Space Terms 2: LEO, MEO, GEO, and HEO
6 minute read - Space is big. As Douglas Adams put it so eloquently in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, space is really, really big. So let’s not talk about all of space right now, let’s just talk about the orbit of the Earth, which is still big. Let’s break it down and try to understand the different sections of Earth orbit and how they all play into the way that a satellite orbits.
First Footings in the Final Frontier
4 minute read - Just as the success over frozen frontiers, unexplored jungles, endless seas, and even the famous imagery of the American West relied on hard people doing hard work, many forget the steps and support that made those areas of old exploration into the tourist destinations of today. From outposts and supply lines to small-town squares and starting-out shops, the areas under human expansion have been forged and founded in deliberate acts and minor decisions echoing over eons. Each piece of the puzzle is seemingly insignificant and the tasks to finalization insurmountable, yet through a shared societal dream, or singular ideals, humankind pushed forth into all areas listed at the beginning of this paragraph.
Space Traffic Management and Defense
4 minute read - Activity in space has been growing steadily since the first satellite in 1957, but this rate is increasing dramatically as reduced launch costs enable constellations of hundreds and thousands of satellites to be launched quickly. The situation has become one of dangerous disregard for organization, as evidenced by an event on September 2nd, 2019 when the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Aeolus Earth observation satellite had to maneuver out of the way of a Starlink constellation satellite. When this potential collision was uncovered, the two operators struggled to communicate on what combined action should be taken, and while the end effect was thankfully safe, it could easily have resulted in disaster had both sides decided to do nothing.
Space Terms: A Beginner's Guide to Jargon
6 minute read - If you’re reading this, you should know that I am going to miss something. This article is going to cover a lot, but it is pretty unlikely that it’ll cover everything. However, I’m hoping that this guide will be a good starting point for anyone who is trying to understand the concept of space and orbit but is getting buried in the specialized terms and acronyms and needs a little bit of help wading through the weeds.
Looking up into space, or down into the Ether?
3 minute read - Most people share in the imagery of many movies and stories by staring off into space. Whether the “space” around them is the endless nighttime setting of stars, or the watching of clouds coasting across a blue sky, all can recall a time spent in any of these pastimes observing “space”. In this human-centered experience, our society takes these views from our own perspective, which is why we often talk about outer space as “up there” or looking “up” into space. But is that all?