fbpx

Human Progress Logo Human Progress

01 / 05
India’s Lunar Spacecraft Has Returned to Earth Orbit

Ars Technica | Space

India’s Lunar Spacecraft Has Returned to Earth Orbit

“A little more than three months ago the Indian space agency, ISRO, achieved a major success by putting its Vikram lander safely down on the surface of the Moon. In doing so India became the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, and this further ignited the country’s interest in space exploration.

But it turns out that is not the end of the story for the Chandrayaan 3 mission. In a surprise announcement made Monday, ISRO announced that it has successfully returned the propulsion module used by the spacecraft into a high orbit around Earth.”

From Ars Technica.

Rest of World | Communications

How Starlink Took over Africa’s Largest Internet Market

“In January 2023, Nigeria became the first African market that Starlink entered. Two years later, it now ranks second among internet service providers, which are classified separately from large telecom players by the Nigerian authorities. With over 65,500 users at the end of the third quarter last year, Starlink is second only to 16-year-old Lagos-based ISP Spectranet, according to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the country’s telecom regulator. 

At current growth rates, analysts predict Starlink will become Nigeria’s top internet service provider by mid-2026.

The secret to Starlink’s meteoric rise lies in a simple market reality: Nigerians are desperate for reliable, high-speed internet, which local providers have consistently failed to deliver, according to Temidayo Oniosun, managing director at Space in Africa, a market intelligence company focusing on the continent’s space and satellite industry.”

From Rest of World.

Axios | Space

Katy Perry, Gayle King Safely Return from Blue Origin Space Flight

“Singer Katy Perry, CBS anchor Gayle King and other well-known women set off to space on Monday morning in Blue Origin’s 11th human spaceflight mission.

Why it matters: This is the first all-woman space crew in U.S. history.

The flight was led by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ commercial space company. Minutes after taking off, the crew experienced weightlessness. Then they soon safely returned to Earth.”

From Axios.

New Atlas | Natural Disasters

Earth Fire Alliance Satellite for Detecting Wildfires Is Now in Orbit

“The first satellite in a constellation designed specifically to locate wildfires early and precisely anywhere on the planet has now reached Earth’s orbit, and it could forever change how we tackle unplanned infernos.

The FireSat constellation, which will consist of more than 50 satellites when it goes live, is the first of its kind that’s purpose-built to detect and track fires. It’s an initiative launched by nonprofit Earth Fire Alliance, which includes Google and Silicon Valley-based space services startup Muon Space as partners, among others.

According to Google, current satellite systems rely on low-resolution imagery and cover a particular area only once every 12 hours to spot significantly large wildfires spanning a couple of acres. FireSat, on the other hand, will be able to detect wildfires as small as 270 sq ft (25 sq m) – the size of a classroom – and deliver high-resolution visual updates every 20 minutes.”

From New Atlas.

Bloomberg | Space

SpaceX Launches Polar Spaceflight

“Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the first human spaceflight mission to fly over the Earth’s polar regions, funded and commanded by cryptocurrency investor Chun Wang.

The mission, called Fram2, after a Norwegian polar expedition ship that operated in the late 1800s and early 1900s, took off on a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida at 9:46 p.m. local time Monday, carrying a crew of four private astronauts.

Over the course of three to five days, they will fly over and observe Earth’s North and South Poles and conduct research on the impact of spaceflight on human health.”

From Bloomberg.