Satellite News

Globecomm Systems Inc. has been awarded a US$1.2 million contract to provide multiple 1.2-meter mobile portable satellite Earth station terminals.

XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. reported financial and operating results for the second quarter ending 30 June 2006. For the second time in just two months, the company cut its year-end subscriber forecast.

Northrop Grumman Corporation reported second quarter 2006 financial results.

EADS reported financial results for the first half of 2006.

Boeing announced its Wideband Gapfiller Satellite (WGS) programme has successfully completed two more key space-to-ground compatibility tests with partners Universal Space Network (USN) and ITT Industries.

The crash of the Dnepr launch vehicle shortly after lift-off from Baikonur yesterday was likely caused by a failure in the first stage, according to Igor Panarin, spokesman for the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos).

Hubble’s view of Mars in 2003. Image credit: HubbleClick to enlarge
Have you gotten a copy of the email yet? If you haven’t, you probably will. Forwarded from a friend, forwarded again and again until the original source is lost in the murky cloud of the Internet, it encourages you to get set for the experience of a lifetime. When MARS WILL LOOK AS LARGE AS THE FULL MOON!!!!! Is this going to happen? No. But there’s a strange gem of truth at the heart of this misunderstanding/hoax. I’ll give you the history and then everything you need to explain what’s going on to your excited but misinformed email forwarding friends.

Spokes in Saturn’s rings. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSIClick to enlarge
Nope, that’s not an error in the photograph. The ghostly white stripe in Saturn’s rings was captured by Cassini on July 23, 2006. This is the first time that Cassini has seen spokes in Saturn’s rings in nearly a year, and the first time from the sunlit side of the rings. Some scientists think the spokes might be caused by meteoroid impacts onto the rings. Others suggest they’re created by an instability in Saturn’s magnetic field.