The Modern Era of Low-flying Satellites - Jaaj.Club
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What do you think the Octopus symbolizes in the book?


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07.09.2025 17:28
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Started
from the publishing house Collection Jaaj.Club.

Write a science fiction story up to 1 author page and get a chance to be included in a collective collection and get reviewed by renowned authors.

Jury of the contest

Alexander Svistunov
Fantasy writer, member of the Union of Writers of Uzbekistan and the Council for Adventure and Fantastic Literature of the Union of Writers of Russia.

Katerina Popova
A modern writer working in the genre of mysticism, fantasy and adventure thriller. The author does not deprive her works of lightness, humor and self-irony.

Maria Kucherova
Poet and prose writer from Tashkent. The author works in the genres of mysticism, drama and thriller, creates a series of novels and novellas in a single fictional universe.

Konstantin Normaer
A writer working at the intersection of genres: from fantasy detective and steampunk to dark fantasy and mystical realism.

Yana Gros
Writer-prose writer, the main direction - grotesque, social satire, reaction to the processes that are happening today. Laureate and diploma winner of international competitions.

Jerome
Author of the "Lost Worlds" series, specializing in space fiction and time travel. Author of numerous science fiction stories.

Artyom Gorokhov
Artem Gorokhov
Writer-prose writer, author of novels and many works of small prose. The head of seminars of creative community of poets and prose writers.

Olga Sergeyeva
Author of the collection of fantastic stories "Signal". Master of science fiction and mysticism, exploring time, memory and the limits of human possibilities.

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12.08.2025 18:44
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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.

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02.07.2025 20:55
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Already on sale!

A new story from Katerina Popova in a mystical novel


Anybody Alive? - Katerina Popova read online

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Comments

Спасибо большое!
16.09.2025 al.garanina
Спасибо, мне очень приятно!
Нет, это не считается вмешательством в прошлое, потому что это, хоть и очень реалистичная, но симуляция =)
16.09.2025 al.garanina
Прекрасный рассказ! Очень тонко раскрыты загадки человеческого сознания, на которых основана технология будущего. Спасибо за удовольствие от прочтения!
15.09.2025 Formica
Считается ли эта технология вмешательством в прошлое? Маша влезла и помешала Нарье встретится с предками за что получается и поплатилась жизнью.
Я в восторге от рассказа! Браво!
15.09.2025 Palevka-89
Это была цитата из рассказа)
15.09.2025 Palevka-89

The Modern Era of Low-flying Satellites

07.03.2025 Рубрика: Space
Автор: vassyap
Книга: 
4535 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."

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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.

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