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'Citizen Scientists' Take Over Old NASA Satellite

ISEE-3 wakes up after years

(Newser) - A satellite originally launched in 1978 is getting a new lease on life after NASA stopped using it. NASA shut down the satellite, called ISEE-3, in 1997, and it's been spinning uselessly around the sun for years. But a crowdfunded team of "citizen scientists" last month got NASA'...

World's Next Timekeeper: Quantum Superclock?

Atomic clocks would meet quantum entanglement

(Newser) - Sick of missing appointments by milliseconds because of inaccurate atomic clocks? Researchers say they could use quantum physics to create a timekeeper so accurate it could help explain some of the mysteries of time itself. The "quantum superclock" would involve multiple atomic clocks, each in its own satellite orbiting...

Satellite Images Can Now Legally Show Your Mailbox

US lifts restrictions on resolution

(Newser) - There's a reason the satellite images the public gets to see tend to be low on detail: It was illegal for them not to be. But the US government recently changed all that, removing a rule banning satellite images in which features smaller than 50 cm (about 20 inches)...

Space Buffs Awaken Old NASA Probe

Group sends commands to 36-year-old spacecraft

(Newser) - A group of space enthusiasts has managed to gain control of an abandoned NASA spacecraft that has been dormant since the '90s. The International Sun-Earth Explorer, or ISEE-3, was launched in 1978 to study solar wind and, since NASA showed little interest in waking it up, the group hatched...

Citizen Scientists Hope to Wake Up Old Satellite

ISEE-3 travels by Earth this summer for first time in 30 years

(Newser) - A long-dormant satellite is heading back toward Earth this summer after 31 years, and some "citizen scientists" want to try to wake it up and put it back to work, reports Motherboard . Cash-strapped NASA hasn't shown much interest in investing money in the idea, hence the move toward...

NASA 'Space Thief' Ready to Return Satellite

Robert Farquhar says he 'borrowed' ISEE-3 31 years ago

(Newser) - It was a feat then-President Ronald Reagan marked with a congratulatory letter: In September 1985, as the rest of the world was chasing Halley's Comet, the US became the first to have a satellite intercept a comet, one named Giacobini-Zinner. Thing is, we achieved the feat after NASA scientist...

To Count Whales, Scientists Now Spy From Space

Scientists use high-tech imaging techniques

(Newser) - Typically, scientists count whales from a ship's bridge or an airplane, but those techniques come with a number of downsides: They cost a lot of time and money and they can be inaccurate, the Los Angeles Times notes. What's more, "many marine mammal researchers have been killed...

Satellite Built by Teens Blasts Into Space

High school students in Virginia make history

(Newser) - A rocket blasted into space last night with what Space.com calls a record 29 satellites, but one of them in particular is making headlines for all the right reasons: It's the first satellite designed and built by high school students, reports NPR . Teens at Thomas Jefferson High School...

Doomed Satellite Plunges to Earth

GOCE satellite broke up on re-entry

(Newser) - After four years of mapping our planet's gravity, the European Space Agency's GOCE satellite has plunged back to Earth. The GOCE—Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer—was last heard from 75 miles over Antarctica, Reuters reports. It is believed to have burned up on re-entry, with...

South Korea Strikes Back, Launches Rocket

Officials say satellite is in orbit, a first for country

(Newser) - In the wake of North Korea's successful rocket launch , South Korea has a success of its own. Officials say that a rocket that blasted off at 4pm local time today from Goheung did indeed put a satellite into orbit, reports the Los Angeles Times . They'll know by tomorrow...

Mona Lisa Sent to Outer Space via Laser

Feat represents a major advancement in laser communication

(Newser) - Outer space just got a little more cultured. NASA scientists have successfully beamed an image of the Mona Lisa to its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter using a special laser signal, a feat that represents a major leap in laser communication technology, Space.com reports. "This is the first time anyone...

US Getting Worried About China's Space Program

It's fearful of what China could do to our security satellites

(Newser) - What China has done recently in space remains classified. But what sources were willing to tell Reuters is that those moves have officials worried that the country is becoming increasingly able to mess with US satellites that are key to our security. The revelation follows a late 2012 classified intelligence...

North Korea Satellite Died Just After Launch

It's dead and tumbling in orbit, astronomers say

(Newser) - The Kwangmyongsong satellite North Korea sent into orbit last week has already become just another piece of space junk, experts believe. Astronomers say the satellite is tumbling in orbit and failing to emit broadcasts, signs that it probably died soon after the launch, the New York Times reports. The washing-machine-sized...

North Korea Eyes Nuke Test as Satellite Orbits Normally

Pyongyang unveils photos of launch as world slams the move

(Newser) - Despite initial reports that North Korea's successfully launched rocket was "tumbling out of control," South Korea now says that it's orbiting normally, though what the space vehicle's purpose is or if it's functioning remains unclear, reports Fox News . Meanwhile, the world is lining up...

Video Shows Sandy, From 'Life to Landfall'

NASA compiles satellite images

(Newser) - A new video from NASA offers a look at Sandy from her formation in the Caribbean on Oct. 21 to landfall in the US this week. The 20-second compilation of satellite images makes one thing clear, notes Garth Johnston at the Gothamist . "Damn, she was a big lady!"

French Murder Victims Each Shot Twice in the Head

Husband worked on secret defense contract

(Newser) - A multiple murder in France is looking more like a planned killing than a robbery gone wrong—because each of the four victims received two bullets to the head among their other gunshot wounds, the Guardian reports. "I cannot say if the killer or killers were professional; all...

New NSA Spy Center Will Target Every Email and Phone Call

National Security Agency plan was banned by Congress years ago

(Newser) - Looks like Congress can't stop the NSA from monitoring every nook and cranny of our lives after all. In an explosive feature in Wired , James Bamford reveals that the National Security Agency has revived a program called "Total Information Awareness," which aims to collect and sift through...

Swiss 'Janitor Satellite' to Clean Space Junk

It will push defunct satellites into the atmosphere to burn up

(Newser) - Switzerland is on a mean cleaning bender: The fastidious folks at the Swiss Space Center are building a "janitor satellite" that will grab space junk orbiting the Earth and push it into the atmosphere to burn up, the AP reports. The first of these spacecraft, the $11 million "...

Satellites, Drones Spy on Europe's Farms

EU using eyes in the sky to spot subsidy fraud

(Newser) - Satellites and spy drones are scanning farmland in the European Union, and their findings can lead to something nearly as damaging as an air strike: a subsidy cut. The EU spends billions every year in farm subsidies, and eyes in the sky are increasingly being used as a tool to...

Freshwater 'Bulge' Spotted in Arctic

If bulge 'breaks,' colder currents could hit Europe

(Newser) - Scientists have detected an enormous freshwater "bulge" in the Arctic Ocean. The bulge measures nearly 2,000 cubic miles and has risen some six inches in the last nine years. Researchers speculate that the bulge is the result of strong winds whipping up a clockwise current, raising the water...

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