Flirting With Kessler: Why Space Debris Physics Make It Such An Orbital Pain

Picture in your mind a big parking lot with 131 million cars on it. Now imagine that they are spread out over the entire Earth’s inhabited areas. Although still a large number, it is absolute…

Today’s The Day You Finally Learn Quaternions

If you’ve ever dealt with orbital mechanics or sophisticated computer graphics, you’ve probably run across the math term quaternions. [Anyleaf] has a guide to the practical use of this …

NASA Mission Off To Rough Start After Astra Failure

When Astra’s diminutive Rocket 3.3 lifted off from its pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 12th, everything seemed to be going well. In fact, the mission was progressing exa…

Space Age Road Rage: Right Of Way Above The Karman Line

On a dark night in 2006 I was bicycle commuting to my office, oblivious to the countless man made objects orbiting in the sky above me at thousands of miles per hour. My attention was instead focus…