Fifty-five years ago, the UK launched Skynet-1A, a military communications satellite. It stopped working after a year and a half, but it's still up there, the oldest UK spacecraft in orbit. Recently, someone moved it from its original orbit above Africa to a new spot above the Americas. No one knows who did it or why. This isn't just a puzzle; it could cause problems...

Have you ever wondered what material could be used to build houses on the moon or Mars? Well, a team from Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry has an answer: wood! They've launched the world's first wooden satellite into space to test the idea. The tiny satellite, named LignoSat, is no bigger than your palm. It will live on the International Space Station befo...

It's been almost a year since the US military's X-37B spaceplane started its unusual journey in a highly elliptical orbit. Now, the Space Force has something exciting in store. They plan to use a technique called aerobraking to help the spaceplane return to Earth. This means the X-37B will dip into the upper edge of Earth's atmosphere, using drag to slow down and low...

The European Space Agency (ESA) is about to embark on a groundbreaking mission to study the destructive reentry of a satellite into Earth's atmosphere. Meet the Destructive Reentry Assessment Container Object (DRACO), a 440-pound spacecraft designed to crash and burn, gathering valuable data as it goes. This mission is crucial for understanding how to reduce the amou...

The European Space Agency (ESA) has successfully completed the first targeted reentry of one of its Cluster satellites, marking a significant milestone in space debris mitigation efforts. On September 8th, Cluster 2, also known as Salsa, was deliberately sent back to Earth, plunging into the South Pacific Ocean west of Chile at precisely 2:47 pm Eastern time.