Latest news with #USNationalAeronauticsandSpaceAdministration
Gulf Insider
15-05-2025
- Science
- Gulf Insider
Saudi Arabia to Launch First Space Weather Satellite
Saudi Arabia has signed a landmark agreement with the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to launch its first satellite dedicated to studying space weather, under the Artemis II deal marks a new milestone in Saudi–US scientific cooperation and reinforces the Kingdom's role in global space exploration during the official visit of US President Donald Trump to Riyadh, the agreement builds upon the broader US–Saudi space cooperation framework formalized in July 2024 and reflects the growing strength of bilateral ties in science, technology, and innovation. The mission, led by the Saudi Space Agency (SSA), underscores Saudi Arabia's commitment to the Artemis Accords — an international framework promoting peaceful and collaborative exploration of the Moon, Mars, and new satellite will collect high-resolution data on solar activity and its effects on Earth's magnetic field, contributing to global efforts to protect astronauts, improve satellite navigation and communications, and enhance space weather forecasting. The initiative falls under the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP), a Vision 2030 realization program aimed at advancing domestic industrial content and building national expertise in strategic technologies. It also aligns with the Kingdom's goal of becoming a knowledge-driven, innovation-led economy and bolstering local talent in the growing space sector. Also read: Elon Musk: Starlink Has Been Approved In Saudi Arabia
Mint
15-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Mint Primer: How do spy satellites work around the world?
Spy satellites may have been used in the lead-up to the terror attack in Pahalgam, reports say. But India also uses such satellites through the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and has ramped up their deployment. How do these sky-borne spooks really work? Also Read | What the US-China trade deal means for IT services cos Are spy satellites common? Yes. Most spacefaring nations have their own surveillance satellites that are operated by government-backed space agencies. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) operates many types of surveillance satellites to do reconnaissance for military operations. In India, Isro's latest spy satellites include the Earth Observation Satellite (Eos) series, launched in 2020. A new Space-based Surveillance-3 (SBS-3) project seeks to put a constellation of surveillance satellites in orbit within the next four years to offer defence support in the interest of national security, Mint reported Monday. Also Read | Can border fight help settle big vs small screen row? How do spy satellites really work? Stationary satellites, which align with the earth's rotation, can be placed above a particular region. Low-earth orbit (Leo) satellites work as a constantly orbiting constellation, but relay information as a chain between each other, and subsequently to a ground station. These satellites have hyperspectral imaging cameras, which capture ultra-high resolution data of what lies below. For spy satellites, their imaging capability should be of the highest possible order—and their data transmissions are typically limited within a geography. To be sure, private surveillance satellite firms also exist. Also Read | This rice is set to make your meal climate-friendly Do private firms offer surveillance too? Sure. One such firm is homegrown satellite operator, Bengaluru-born Pixxel. Data from its satellite constellation can be bought for uses such as disaster management, conservation, etc. US firm BlackSky has been hired by French-Italian firm Thales Alenia Space to build a private surveillance service for Indian defence manufacturer, Nibe Ltd. Can't surveillance satellites be hacked? Theoretically, yes. All surveillance satellites carry sensitive data that is encrypted in various forms such as globally standardized Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), as well as more sophisticated forms. Data encryption is implemented in the broadcast of sensitive satellite data at a ground station level as well, while the satellites themselves would have geolocation restrictions in terms of the range of area within which the data is beamed from them. This is what primarily differentiates them from general-use earth image satellites. So, public-private partnerships next? Why not. India's new SBS-3 spying programme is using private firms to make the satellites. While the contract is closely monitored and controlled by the government and Isro, using private firms gives governments flexibility to make the most of surveillance data through analytics. In the long run, most governments plan to do this, since not every nation has its own satellites, let alone a space programme. Estimates peg the private satellite data industry globally to be worth $15 billion, driven by government contracts.
Saudi Gazette
14-05-2025
- Science
- Saudi Gazette
Saudi Arabia to launch first space weather satellite under Artemis II mission
Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — Saudi Arabia has signed a landmark agreement with the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to launch its first satellite dedicated to studying space weather, under the Artemis II mission. The deal marks a new milestone in Saudi–US scientific cooperation and reinforces the Kingdom's role in global space exploration initiatives. Signed during the official visit of US President Donald Trump to Riyadh, the agreement builds upon the broader US–Saudi space cooperation framework formalized in July 2024 and reflects the growing strength of bilateral ties in science, technology, and innovation. The mission, led by the Saudi Space Agency (SSA), underscores Saudi Arabia's commitment to the Artemis Accords — an international framework promoting peaceful and collaborative exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The new satellite will collect high-resolution data on solar activity and its effects on Earth's magnetic field, contributing to global efforts to protect astronauts, improve satellite navigation and communications, and enhance space weather forecasting. The initiative falls under the National Industrial Development and Logistics Program (NIDLP), a Vision 2030 realization program aimed at advancing domestic industrial content and building national expertise in strategic technologies. It also aligns with the Kingdom's goal of becoming a knowledge-driven, innovation-led economy and bolstering local talent in the growing space sector.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
01-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Billionaire Isaacman set to head Nasa, to focus on moon and Mars mission
Jared Isaacman, the 42-year-old entrepreneur, is set to become the head of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa). Isaacman, the first non-professional astronaut to walk in space, has received approval from a crucial Senate Committee of the US. According to a BBC report, Isaacman is yet to receive a clear vote of the full chamber to lead Nasa, the space agency which has set its eyes on returning to the Moon. The Senate Committee voted 19 to nine before his nomination was sent to the full chamber. It is worth noting that most of the votes against him came from the Democrats. Even though Isaacman is anticipated to win the vote in the full chamber, he is now encountering skepticism, especially for his ties with billionaire Elon Musk. Isaacman was questioned about his plans to send astronauts to Mars, budget cuts, and possible conflicts of interest at his hearing. While he expressed optimism to pursue Nasa's Artemis mission to the moon along with potential missions to Mars, US lawmakers were concerned that he would give up the Artemis mission to focus on expanding the Mars mission and sending astronauts to Mars. Isaacman's plans for Nasa Even before taking charge, the 42-year-old billionaire has expressed his desire to expand the human space flight programme. He said, 'We will prioritise sending American astronauts to Mars, and along the way we will inevitably have the capabilities to return to the Moon.' He said the agency does not have to make a binary decision of moon vs Mars, or Moon has to come first vs Mars. Isaacman, along with Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is among a few new billionaires who are trying to challenge the old order in space. With their focus being majorly on innovation, these new billionaires are aiming to reduce the cost of space travel. Isaacman's appointment to head Nasa could also help the agency, which has often been slammed for its space programmes, which have often been called 'wasteful' and 'over the budget' by several private sector operators. Commenting on the same, Isaacman noted that major contractors are 'incentivised to be economically inefficient', according to the report. Isaacman's arrest During the April 9 confirmation hearing, the Senate discovered that back in 2010, Jared Isaacman was arrested at the Canadian border and returned to Nevada after he was accused of passing bad checks to casinos. Clarifying about the charges against him, he said that the dispute with the casino occurred after a travel reimbursement, which was promised by the resort but was not delivered. He further added that the charges were dismissed and the matter was closed in 24 hours.
Hindustan Times
26-04-2025
- Science
- Hindustan Times
Spin cycle: Why Earth's rotational speed is changing
Talk about making the world go round. Earth's rotational speed is changing, and we're more than partly responsible. A gigantic dam, our extraction of groundwater, melting ice sheets and rising sea levels are among the human-linked factors altering Earth's spin. The thing all these factors have in common, is water. Where it stands, how it flows and where it settles has always shaped Earth's rotation. During the last Ice Age, which ended about 20,000 years ago, for instance, the weight of the ice was so great that it depressed the surface of the planet. As it melted, large parts of the planet returned to their original form, leading to shifts in the orbit then too. Giant earthquakes have also traditionally altered Earth's rotation, in tiny but still real ways. Anything that redistributes Earth's mass can cause such a change. One of the things now estimated to do this is the world's most powerful dam. China's Three Gorges Dam across the Yangtze River generates more hydroelectric power than certain small countries. Completed in 2006, it is over 7,500 ft long and 600 ft tall. At capacity, it holds back (and draws power from) 10 trillion gallons of water. Because this water has been moved from a lower elevation to a higher one, at a certain distance from the equator, it has likely caused a measurable shift in the Earth's spin. According to research by Benjamin Fong Chao, a geophysicist with the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), released in 2005, the dam has likely increased the length of a day by 0.06 microseconds (for context, there are a million microseconds in a second). Incidentally, other dams have been said to cause infinitesimal shifts in spin too; few have been studied as closely as the Three Gorges. Elsewhere, 'contemporary mass loss' and its impact on Earth's rotation are being studied on two primary fronts: the cracking and collapsing of ice sheets at the poles, and the extraction of massive volumes of groundwater over time. Through the 20th century, the Greenland ice sheet (the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere) has had an estimated 7,500 billion tonnes of ice melt into the ocean. The rate of melting has since sped up. NASA estimates that about 270 billion tonnes are now being lost a year in Greenland, and another 135 billion tonnes are being lost in Antarctica. Meanwhile, humans pumped out more than 2,100 billion tonnes of groundwater between 1993 and 2010 alone, according to a study by Korean geophysicist Ki-Weon Seo, published in Geophysical Research Letters in 2023. Most of it eventually ended up in the sea. This shifting of mass directly affects Earth's rotation too. The direct implications of such shifts are felt in areas that rely on extreme precision, such as satellite orbits, GPS accuracy and the synchronisation of atomic clocks. The impacts of the factors causing the shifts, of course, are a matter of survival.
