TD Column

Let’s Not Nuclearize the Heavens

John Strausbaugh / Truthdig Apr 30, 2024 Russia’s emergent nuclear anti-satellite program highlights the dangers of viewing outer space as a battleground. Dig deeper ( 5 Min. Read )

Technology

Despoiling the Final Frontier

Kurt Cobb / Resilience Mar 14, 2023 Companies that plan to put tens of thousands of satellites into orbit to create space-based internet are going to harm the Ozone layer. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

An Unhappy Kremlin Takes Hard Look at Rocket Failures

VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV / The Associated Press Dec 28, 2017 In the latest blow to the Russian space industry, communication with a satellite built for Angola was lost after the launch this week. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Facebook Solar Drones Aim to Transmit Internet to Just About Everywhere

Donald Kaufman / Truthdig Apr 2, 2014 Facebook's planned drone program competes with Google's Project Loon for global dominance in the race to make the Internet available to all earthlings. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Global Warming Satellite Launch Is a Failure

Staff / Truthdig Feb 24, 2009 NASA's first effort to loft a satellite to help scientists determine where carbon dioxide is produced and stored around the globe ended in failure when the $270 million spacecraft crashed near Antarctica. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

U.S., Russian Satellites Collide, Go Boom

Staff / Truthdig Feb 12, 2009 It's getting crowded in space. A U.S. telecommunications satellite and a defunct Russian satellite smacked into each other in orbit over Siberia on Tuesday. According to NASA, no one was to blame for the unprecedented collision: "We don't have an air traffic controller in space." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

U.S. Claims Successful Hit on Faulty Satellite

Staff / Truthdig Feb 22, 2008 The official reason the U.S. military offered for its show of fireworks Wednesday night high above the Pacific was to shoot down, using an anti-satellite missile, a failed spy satellite before it might do damage upon reentry. However, not everyone read the skywriting that way. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Pentagon Plans Satellite Shoot-Down

Staff / Truthdig Feb 16, 2008 Attention, China: The U.S. military will soon be staging a bit of sky theater in trying to shoot down an inoperative American intelligence satellite. So, what does this show of atmospheric pyrotechnics have to do with China? Read on. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Navy to Obscure Giant Swastika

Staff / Truthdig Sep 27, 2007 The Navy plans to spend $600,000 to obscure a San Diego-area building complex that happens to be shaped like a swastika. The buildings have been around since the 1960s and for years no one seemed to mind, but that was before the advent of Google Earth. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Intel Chief Expands Spy Satellite Access

Staff / Truthdig Aug 16, 2007 For those of us who are alarmed by Google Maps' satellite-generated views of our homes and favorite stomping grounds, a recent decision made by Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell ought to stand some hairs on end. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

FCC Commissioner on Net Neutrality, the Future of Media and More

Staff / Truthdig Mar 19, 2007 Jonathan Adelstein, one of five FCC commissioners, speaks with Truthdig about the battle to control America's airwaves, the value of an open and fair Internet and his initial thoughts on the XM-Sirius merger. Dig deeper ( 12 Min. Read )

Satellite Spy Agency Gets Bilked

Staff / Truthdig Feb 7, 2007 Spy satellites provide much of the intelligence community's raw data, whether snapshots of Iran's nuclear facilities or al-Qaida training camps. David Kaplan has the story on how the National Reconnaissance Office, the $7.5-billion-a-year agency that builds and operates the satellites, has had to contend with potentially massive fraud among its many contractors. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )