Big Brothers Orbiting Eart [GRAPHIC]

From: http://www.popsci.com/

   

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Space debris remains one of the biggest challenges for a space-faring humanity in the 21st century, as even the smallest pieces can pose a serious threat to satellites, manned spacecraft and the International Space Station.

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. to install a huge solar farm in space

Aditi Justa

Harvesting solar power from space through orbiting solar farms sounds extremely interesting. Mitsubishi Electric Corp., a manufacturer of solar panels, has decided to join an AUD $25 billion Japanese project to construct a massive solar farm in space within three decades.

Microblogging in orbit from new satellite

Send your messages from space with new photo platform

You won't need one of these to start orbital microblogging

We often hear how Twitter is rapidly becoming the first port of call for citizen news stories like the Hudson River plane crash, so it shouldn't be a great surprise to see the same techniques extended a little.

Still, pushing microblogging all the way into outer space on a satellite is quite a step.

Collaborative launch

The notion comes from Japan, where a non-profit called Kansai Space Initiative (KSI) has been set up to build a tiny satellite that anyone can use once it's in orbit.

The KaSpl-1 will weigh just 50kg when it goes up as an extra payload on a Japanese launch in 2013. The diminutive size has already seen the class dubbed 'microsatellites'.

Have it your way

KSI is encouraging anyone with an interest to pay ¥3,000 (£22) and join the team that will plan exactly what the satellite will do.

So far, it says there will be a camera pointing at a digital screen that can display emailed user messages while in orbit.

One small step

Having the entire Earth as the backdrop to the photo is sure to bring in users to grab the resulting personalised orbital shots as downloads.

After low-Earth orbit, how long can it be before we get Tweets and more from the Moon or further?

By J Mark Lytle

US Broadband Internet Satellite Scheduled for Launch in 2011 (PC World)

- A California satellite technology provider has signed a deal to put a planned broadband Internet satellite into orbit above the U.S. in the first half of 2011.

The ViaSat-1 satellite will be launched on board an Arianespace rocket from the European space port in Kourou, French Guiana, according to the terms of the deal that was announced on Thursday.

The satellite will an overall throughput of 100G bps (bits per second) and that should enable it to support 2M bps service to about 2 million subscribers when operational.

It is expected to be the highest capacity satellite in the world at time of launch, and that should mean the price of transmitting each bit of data is about a tenth that of current services. In turn this should enable broadband Internet services at much lower prices than now, according to the company.

While ViaSat will own the satellite it intends on relying on other companies to offer the Internet service.

ViaSat is a California-based company that specializes in satellite communications systems with an emphasis on military, security and corporate applications. It already leases space on commercial satellites to operate a mobile broadband networks for both fixed locations and those that move like ships and aircraft.

The ViaSat plans are running in parallel with an effort by Eutelsat in Europe to launch a high capacity broadband satellite there in 2010.