Satellite News

Ring nebula. Image credit: Goodrich/Bolte/W. M. KeckClick to enlarge
A team of astronomers recently used Arizona’s Infrared-Optical Telescope Array (IOTA) of three linked telescopes to peer 4 billion years into the future, when our Sun balloons up to become a red giant star. The three instruments act as a powerful interferometer, providing a view that would only be possible with a much larger instrument. They observed several red giant stars – the eventual fate of our Sun – and discovered their surfaces to be mottled and varied, covered with enormous sunspots.

Columbus laboratory. Image credit: ESAClick to enlarge
NASA today announced the astronaut assignments for the upcoming STS-122 space shuttle mission, tentatively scheduled for October 2007. The commander will be Stephen N. Frick, and the pilot will be Alan G. Poindexter. The mission specialists will be Rex J. Walheim, Stanley G. Love, Leland D. Melvin and European Space Agency astronaut Hans Schlegel. During this mission, the space shuttle will deliver the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station.

Xanadu region on Titan. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSIClick to enlarge
New radar images of Titan show surprisingly familiar terrain on Saturn’s largest moon. The radar images show a strip 4,500 km (2,796 miles) long, straight through the Xanadu region. Some images show hills, valleys and dark sand dunes cut by river networks – the similarity to Earth is striking. Of course, Titan is so cold it can’t be water; these rivers are probably formed by liquid methane or ethane. Cassini will return to Titan on Saturday, July 22 and capture images of the northern latitudes.

Planetlink Communications Inc. signed its first three clients under an original equipment…

Iridium Satellite named International Communications Group (ICG) a value-added reseller, allowing the company to market and sell certain Iridium products and services, ICG announced July…

Satellite Security Corp. raised $2.9 million in a debt offering, the company announced July 18. The company, which provides GPS-based asset tracking…

Optus received the D1 satellite from satellite manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corp., Optus announced. The satellite is scheduled for launch in…

XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. asked a federal judge to throw out a copyright lawsuit filed by the recording industry over a portable radio that also can store recorded music. The Recording Industry Association of America, (RIAA) which represents record companies, filed suit in May over the Pioneer Inno…