Russia launches an Iranian communications satellite into orbit
The Soyuz rocket lifted off as scheduled from Vostochny launchpad in far eastern Russia, the country's state-controlled Roscosmos corporation said. It carried two Russian Ionosphere-M Earth observation satellites, along with Iran's Nahid-2 satellite and 17 smaller Russian satellites, and put them into designated orbits.
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Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Kamchatka Has A Long History Of Earthquakes, And This Is Why
This week's massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake in eastern Russia, which triggered tsunami warnings around the Pacific Ocean, wasn't the area's first big earthquake, and it won't be the last. On August 29, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake rocked the Kamchatka Peninsula, a stretch of land that extends southward into the Bering Sea from Russia's northeast coast. The earthquake set off an eruption of the northern hemisphere's tallest volcano, and the shaking seafloor sent tsunamis crashing into the coast of Hawai'i and Japan. Seismographs as far away as northwestern Arkansas in the U.S. recorded the seismic waves from the earthquake. This remote region of Russia is known for producing powerful quakes and destructive tsunamis – so here's a look at its very shaky seismic past. Welcome to Kamchatka; mind the earthquakes The Kamchatka Peninsula juts southward into the Bering Sea from the northeast corner of Russia. Along Kamchatka's southeast coast runs a chain of islands called Kuril. And between the two, deep beneath the ocean, lies the 6-mile-deep Kuril-Kamchatka Trench. At the bottom of that trench, powerful forces clash slowly – and sometimes release huge bursts of violent energy that shakes the ground and send tremendous waves racing across the ocean. Here, the single largest piece of Earth's crust, called the Pacific Plate, is sinking beneath the Okhotsk Plate: a smaller, vaguely triangular shard of continental crust wedged between the Pacific, Eurasian, and North American Plates. This type of fault, called a convergent or thrust fault, can churn up the most powerful earthquakes on the planet, known as megathrust earthquakes. Every magnitude 9.0 or larger earthquake recorded since 1900 (there have been five so far) has happened along a thrust fault like the one east of Kamchatka. This is why: the plates move slowly (as befits continent-sized slabs of rock floating atop slowly churning magma), at just about 3 inches a year. But that movement doesn't happen smoothly and steadily. As the Pacific Plate moves under the Okhotsk Plate, friction between the two plates grinds everything to a halt – but the pressure keeps building, and when it finally breaks loose, it releases all that pent-up energy in the form of a monster megathrust earthquake. An icy patch in the Ring of Fire The Pacific and Okhotsk Plates have been slowly colliding since shortly before the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous Period 66 million years ago. The fault at the bottom of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench formed the Kuril Islands, and it spawned Kamchatka's chain of volcanoes – about 160 of them, 29 of which are active today. In fact, Kamchatka boasts the highest density of volcanoes – and the things that go along with them, like geysers – on the planet. Those include the largest active volcano in the northern hemisphere, Klyuchevskaya Sopka, which rears its snow-capped head 15,500 feet above sea level (and which is now erupting in the wake of the July 29 earthquake). So it's no surprise that of the 20 most powerful earthquakes on record, four have happened along this particular fault. Before the advent of modern seismic instruments around 1900, we know that at least two major earthquakes happened along the fault east of Kamchatka: one in 1737 and one in 1841. Based on historical descriptions of the earthquakes, the damage, and the tsunamis that followed, both of these quakes probably clocked in at around magnitude 9.0, comparable to the 1952 quake. Since then, seismic instruments have measured several other extremely powerful earthquakes in the area along this fault: two struck just two months apart in early 1923, with magnitudes 8.2 and 8.4. The worst earthquake in the area so far happened in 1952 and registered at magnitude 9.0. Since then, the fault has also spawned a magnitude 8.4 earthquake in 1958, a magnitude 8.5 in 1963, and magnitude 8. 3 in 1994 followed by two more of the same magnitude in 2006 and 2013. In other words, major earthquakes happen fairly often (in geological terms) along the coast of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands. And this fault zone is just one section of the Ring of Fire, a network of faults that, roughly, mark the edges of the Pacific Plate. The Ring of Fire runs from New Guinea northwest through Indonesia and the Philippines, then north across Japan and Kamchatka, where it turns east along the Aleutian Islands, then heads south down the Pacific coasts of the Americas to Chile. It's home to Mount St. Helens and the San Andreas fault in the U.S., and it's spawned all of the 20 most powerful earthquakes ever recorded. In case you're wondering, the July 29 Kamchatka earthquake ranks at number 8 on that list. It could have been much worse The worst earthquake in Kamchatka's recent past – and the fifth most powerful earthquake ever recorded anywhere – struck in early November 1952. That earthquake churned up a massive tsunami, which slammed into the Kuril Islands in a series of three waves. Reportedly, the second wave in that series drowned nearly half of the 6,000 residents of Severo-Kurilsk; they had ventured back into the coastal town after the first wave past, thinking the disaster was over and the coast was (ahem) clear, and the second wave caught them off-guard. (Pro tip: tsunamis often come in multiple waves. Wait them out. Don't go back to the coast until you hear an all-clear.) Most of the people living in Severo-Kurilsk in late 1952 were Russian settlers, who had moved to the islands after the Soviet Union invaded and seized the islands from Japan in 1945. In the process, Soviet forces had deported the Japanese civilians who lived on the islands and moved in a bunch of its own citizens. After the earthquake and tsunami, the Soviet government evacuated most of the bedragged survivors back to the Russian mainland. Eventually, the Soviet Union rebuilt the town further inland, where it still stands today. A tsunami crashed ashore in Severo-Kurilsk after the July 29 quake, but local authorities report no fatalities.
Android Authority
2 hours ago
- Android Authority
Signing up for T Satellite without T-Mobile service isn't as simple as it might sound
Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR T Satellite is now officially available nationwide, even for those without T-Mobile service, but signing up requires a phone call or an in-person visit. I decided to try signing up, and my experience was overall smooth and professional, though others have reported long waits or uninformed reps. I waited around an hour or so, though half this time was due to my own error. Recently, T Satellite officially exited beta and launched nationwide for both existing T-Mobile customers and those on other networks who want to sign up for satellite service only. As our de facto phone service expert, I immediately decided to check it out. While I had skipped the beta since a colleague already covered it, I wanted to see what it was like now that it was officially ready for prime time. Unfortunately, my first disappointment came when I realized the only way to sign up was to either go into a T-Mobile store or call customer service. While the initial beta could be set up entirely online, it's not too surprising that T-Mobile would now want more opportunities to upsell you or convince you to leave your existing carrier. On the plus side, this also gives reps a chance to explain the requirements better. Still, I'm confident the app could have handled that just as easily. Anyone else sign up for T Sat without traditional T-Mobile service? 0 votes Yes and it went well NaN % Yes but I ran into issues NaN % No, I haven't bothered as I don't feel it's worth it. NaN % Other (tell us in comments) NaN % Not wanting to deal with a retail store experience, I decided to give them a call. As for how the setup call went, it was actually pretty smooth. I called early in the morning and was connected with a rep who could help me within about five minutes. I explained that I was a Verizon customer interested in T Satellite. The rep admitted it was his first time handling this kind of request, which made sense considering I called just a day after the official nationwide launch. Still, he did a good job and walked me through the process in about 30 minutes. Unfortunately, I ran into a snag right at the end with processing the order and was told the only way to complete the order was to go into the store. As it turned out, this was user error on my part. As silly as I felt, it turned out the spare phone I'd grabbed already had its eSIM slot in use even though I'd sworn I'd factory reset all that. Once I figured this out, I decided to try again with another rep via the phone system and eventually got things settled after about an additional 20-45 minutes or so. While it would have been easier to sign up online, I was impressed with the speed and knowledge of both reps, especially considering how new the product is. Sure, the phone process is longer than what an app-based sign-up would likely take, but it wasn't a dealbreaker. It's also worth mentioning that if I had done a little better prep work, I wouldn't have had to call back either. I was also surprised that there wasn't a strong pitch to switch from my current carrier. Both reps did ask once if I was interested in T-Mobile Home Internet, but neither were pushy about it at all. Is it really hard? No, but it is intentionally more difficult than I was it was The big takeaway is that while signing up for T Satellite without T-Mobile service isn't as straightforward as it would be if you could do it yourself online, it's not exactly hard either, and for the most part, the experience was a good one. Of course, not everyone will have the same story. Redditors like MtnXfreeride noted that long wait times and confused reps are not uncommon. It really depends on when you call and who you get. In my case, calling early in the day probably helped. There's one other potential issue worth noting. As noted by Reddit user GreatShazbot, the T Sat plan may require a hard credit check. While I couldn't confirm this directly from my credit report, I did notice a recent hard inquiry. I can't say for sure it came from T-Mobile, but the timing suggests a possibility. If you are someone who tries to avoid hard pulls, definitely ask for clarification before providing any personal information. I wasn't exactly prepared for this call as I should have thought to ask, though I'll blame that on the fact that it was barely 7:30 in the morning. Had I gone in-store instead, I doubt the process would have gone much differently, though the travel time would have added to it. Anyone else sign up for T Satellite without T-Mobile service? Let us know how your experience went or if you ran into any issues. Follow
New York Times
3 hours ago
- New York Times
When Earth's Surface Shifts, a New Satellite Will See It
A new radar satellite, successfully launched on Wednesday, will track tiny shifts across almost all of Earth's land and ice regions, measuring changes as slight as a centimeter, or less than half an inch. The satellite is a joint mission between NASA and India's space agency and has been in the making for more than a decade. The satellite lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India's southeastern coast. About 20 minutes later, it was released into an orbit that passes close to the North and South Poles at about 464 miles above Earth's surface. At the mission control center, the reaction was jubilation. The visitors' gallery there included a few thousand students, and tens of thousands of people watched online. 'This success is demonstrating teamwork, international teamwork between two space-faring nations,' V. Narayanan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, said after the launch. Casey Swails, NASA's deputy associate administrator, followed with equally complimentary remarks. 'This Earth science mission is one of a kind, and really shows the world what our two nations can do,' she said. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
