[ORBIT] Desk
Satellites and Orbit
Satellites, constellations, stations and what happens once a payload is up. Every ticker item and desk story tagged [ORBIT], newest first, each with its Why it matters.
- [ORBIT] A Falcon 9 rideshare flight on Oct. 20 carried 32 payloads, including two capsules designed to make products in orbit and bring them back.
Why it matters
factories in space could one day make certain medicines and materials that are hard to make under gravity.
- [ORBIT] Falcon 9 lifted 27 Starlink internet satellites from California on Oct. 23 after three scrubs; its booster flew for the 36th time.
Why it matters
a rocket that flies 36 times works more like an airplane than a firework, which is the main reason launches have gotten cheaper.
- [ORBIT] Perseverance passed 45 km driven on Mars, a record for any vehicle on another world.
Why it matters
that is about 28 miles, crossed by remote control from roughly 140 million miles away.
- [ORBIT] NASA ended the Swift space telescope's mission after 22 years of watching cosmic explosions.
Why it matters
older science satellites are being retired as new ones take over.