The Modern Era of Low-flying Satellites - Jaaj.Club
Poll
What would you do if you were Alice and found out that you had inherited an old monastery in England?


Events

12.08.2025 18:44
***

On Sale!

Echo of Destruction is a new post-apocalyptic novel
Zoya Biryukova.

A post-catastrophe world, an ancient war between vampires and werewolves, and a ritual that will decide the fate of humanity.


Zoya Biryukova is a gamer and dark fantasy fan. Her love for the worlds of vampires and werewolves inspired her to create her own story about the post-apocalypse and ancient powers.

***
02.07.2025 20:55
***

Already on sale!

A new story from Katerina Popova in a mystical novel


Anybody Alive? - Katerina Popova read online

***

Comments

Спасибо!
02.09.2025 Elizaveta3112
The plot of the book subtly suggests: if something seems suspicious, you should not ignore this feeling. In the center of the narrative - the difficult relationship of the main character Varya with others. The author touches on the important topic of trust in people we have known for many years. Sometimes they can surprise us. I liked the book, I recommend it.
01.09.2025 Alexsa
It was interesting to read about how AI helps the user navigate the site more easily. For example, if you enter the query "smartphone" in an online store, the next time you enter it, the system will automatically suggest phone-related products in the search: headphones, smart watches, etc. Such a thing noticeably saves time.
31.08.2025 Fernan7do8
Glad you liked it)
30.08.2025 Elizaveta3112
I got acquainted with the collection of articles "Scandinavian Mythology and Vikings" from Jaaj.Club with great interest. The material is presented in a very accessible and fascinating way, which is especially valuable for those who are just beginning to familiarize themselves with this topic. The author managed to convey the atmosphere of ancient legends and myths, as well as to show how Scandinavian mythology reached our days through the prism of Christianity. I especially liked the description of the World Tree Yggdrasil and cosmogonic ideas. The collection is inspiring to learn more about Viking culture and beliefs, and I'm looking forward to following the new publications. I recommend it to anyone interested in the history and mythology of Scandinavia!
30.08.2025 RABOTA1

The Modern Era of Low-flying Satellites

07.03.2025 Рубрика: Space
Автор: vassyap
Книга: 
4484 1 0 10 669
The idea of flying satellites in "very" low Earth orbit is not new. Back at the dawn of the space age, in the late 1950s, the first American spy satellites under the Corona program orbited at an altitude of 120-160 kilometers above the Earth.
The Modern Era of Low-flying Satellites
фото: arstechnica.com
The idea of flying satellites in "very" low Earth orbit is not new. Back at the dawn of the space age, in the late 1950s, the first American spy satellites under the Corona program orbited at an altitude of 120-160 kilometers above the Earth.

This low vantage point allowed the Kodak cameras aboard the Corona satellites to take the highest resolution images of Earth during the height of the Cold War. However, flying so close to the planet presents a number of challenges, most notably atmospheric drag.

So for most of the space age, satellites flew in much higher orbits. Today, most satellites fly at altitudes between 400 and 800 kilometers, which is high enough to avoid most atmospheric effects but still close enough to provide good communications and a clear view of the planet.

In recent years, new space companies have announced plans to develop small and medium satellites designed to operate in very low Earth orbit (VLEO) and take advantage of a close vantage point.

The first of these companies to actually reach the launchpad was a Denver-based startup called Albedo.

Launching a startup


Albedo was founded about four years ago by two engineers from Lockheed Martin, Topher Haddad and AJ Lasater, and a software engineer from Facebook, Winston Tree. Since 2021, the trio has raised more than $100 million to develop satellites capable of transmitting visual images with a resolution of 10 centimeters.

"The vision was to commercialize VLEO as a means of acquiring imagery at a resolution that today can only be obtained from aircraft or drones, either commercially or by billion-dollar national systems in the national security domain," says Haddad. This resolution is significantly higher than all currently available commercial satellite imagery and rivals the resolution of some of the best spy satellites currently operated by the U.S. and other major space powers."

fbvf0d01l7iu5uaj2u3k.jpg
Photo: therussiannews.ru

Today, helicopters or drones are sometimes the only real solution to obtaining high-resolution imagery, Haddad said. But there are many places on the planet where flights are limited, and the cost of regular airplane flights is rising rapidly.

Clarity-1 is on site


Albedo's first major test could come as early as next week, when the Transporter 13 mission launches on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. The company's first satellite, Clarity-1, weighing 530 kilograms, will sit atop a stack of spacecraft designed to travel together. The mission could launch as early as next weekend from Space Force Base Vandenberg in California.

The Clarity-1 satellite will be launched into an orbit between 500 and 600 kilometers high and then attempt to transfer itself into an operational orbit 274 kilometers above the planet.

The spacecraft is larger than a full-sized refrigerator, looks like a phone booth and is designed to last about five years, depending on the solar cycle.

Clarity-1's launch falls at the peak of the 11-year solar cycle, so this could shorten its active lifetime.

Albedo was recently awarded a contract from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory for up to $12 million to share VLEO-specific orbital data and analysis to support the development of new missions and payloads beyond its own optical sensors.

Serving a variety of customers


Among the advantages of such a platform are superior image quality, less congested orbits, and natural cleanup of trash as idle satellites descend into Earth's atmosphere and burn up. But what about the downsides?

In orbits closer to Earth, the main problem is atomic oxygen, which is highly reactive and energetic. In addition, there are plasma vortices and other phenomena that interfere with the satellites and destroy their materials. This makes VLEO much more dangerous than satellites at high altitude.

It's also more difficult to get accurate images. "The hardest part is pointing and position control," says Haddad. "Because it's already challenging at LEO when you have a big telescope and you're trying to get high resolution. Then you put it on VLEO, where the Earth's rotation is faster, and that just compounds the problem."

Haddad said Albedo will likely have 24 satellites in the next few years, but that number will depend on customer demand. Albedo has already announced half a dozen commercial customers who will use Clarity-1 for a variety of purposes, such as monitoring power supplies and pipelines or maintaining solar farms.

But first, the company must demonstrate its technology.

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter

Every week Jaaj.Club publishes many articles, stories and poems. Reading them all is a very difficult task. Subscribing to the newsletter will solve this problem: you will receive similar materials from the site on the selected topic for the last week by email.
Enter your Email
Хотите поднять публикацию в ТОП и разместить её на главной странице?

Спутники едва разминулись: проблема мусора на орбите

Спутники стали неотъемлемой частью современной жизни. Однако их количество на околоземной орбите, а также остатки вышедших из строя аппаратов создают проблему. Столкновения в космосе продолжают происходить, и на этот раз два неработающих объекта едва не врезались друг в друга. Читать далее »

Новый телескоп сможет показывать всё небо каждые три дня

Революционная обсерватория имени Веры Рубин за первый год работы соберёт больше астрономических данных, чем все другие телескопы вместе взятые. Читать далее »

Что будет, когда мы обнаружим копию Земли

Как мы выяснили, космос наполнен огромным количеством совершенно разных миров, и вполне естественно задаться вопросом, существует ли Земля 2.0, или все они действительно, что называется, "чужие". Читать далее »

Комментарии

-Комментариев нет-