Satellite launch kick starts Elon Musk’s quest to connect everyone on Earth
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Over 3.5 billion people on the planet aren’t connected to the internet, for better or worse, and space internet is here to change that. They’ve finally done it – for years I’ve been talking about how a raft of companies were planning on launching...
Pentagon demands satellites that can dodge incoming fire like an NBA all star
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Once satellites are in orbit they stay there, in the same position until they run out of fuel, then they fall back to Earth, but as the militarisation of space hots up satellites need to be able to move. In the event of a...
SpaceX seeks FCC approval to bring space based internet to the entire US
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Laying down hundreds of thousands of miles of fibre optic cable has had its day as space based internet platforms compete with established telcos. Private spaceflight firm SpaceX has been publicly planning to deploy a network of “Starlink” satellites to offer broadband internet for several years...
Scientists have created the blackest material ever, and it’s great for gaming
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF There are certain situations, such as calibrating satellite systems, or in cinemas where nearly dark doesn’t cut it, Vantablack is the darkest material ever produced. Have you ever gotten up to use the restroom during a movie screening, then struggled to find your seat...
UK and Singapore set 2021 deadline to launch world’s first quantum communications cubesat
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Unlike traditional communications technologies quantum communications are unhackable, so countries are racing to deploy them. Highly secure global communication based on Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), a secure communications cryptographic protocol that’s based on the eerie phenomenon of quantum mechanics, could eventually be made possible...
Worldwide surveillance, Hawkeye satellites use radio to track illegal shipping
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Over $3Trillion worth of goods are transported illegally, and this new technology gives law enforcement a major new weapon in the race to find them. A little while ago I talked about a company called Planet, that can watch the world, and everything on...
Virgin Orbit strapped a rocket to their 747 to democratise access to space
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Many companies are trying to lower the cost of launching goods and people into space, and this is one of the craziest yet, but it’s likely going to work. A number of companies are exploring ways to launch a rocket not from a launchpad,...
China’s new “Ghost Imaging” satellites will make US stealth obsolete
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The age of using stealth to avoid radar and other electromagnetic based detection systems is coming to an end as new quantum sensors and sensing systems will increasingly render today’s stealth obsolete. Following on from their announcement that they’ve created the world’s first Quantum...
Massive new satellite network can watch everyone on Earth
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF A new, bolstered, space satellite system to keep watch over the world, it’s the equivalent of Tivo for Google Earth. Planet, a global satellite company, who recently bought mini-sat company Terra Bella from Google, is used to breaking records. In 2014, a rocket exploded...
