Tokyo startup looks to tap satellite images of nighttime neon to forecast GDP
Nowcast Inc., a Japanese financial research and technology startup, has developed a product that estimates economic growth in real time by using satellite images of nighttime lights. Based on algorithms that examine changes in the intensity of illumination, as well as a range of published ...
JAXA to release Kenya's first microsatellite for free from ISS in 2017
Japan's space agency has announced that it will release Kenya's first satellite — for no fee — from its Kibo laboratory at the International Space Station. The move, announced Thursday, is expected to take place sometime in fiscal 2017, which begins next April. Deploying the University ...
Tarpaulin mishap delays Japan's first military satellite by two years: sources
The launch of Japan's first dedicated military communications satellite will be delayed by two years after a mishap with a blue tarpaulin damaged sensitive antennas during transportation to Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, two government sources said. The mishap has set back plans by the ...
Debris spotted floating around silent Hitomi X-ray satellite
The U.S. Joint Space Operations Center on Sunday said it has spotted five objects floating near Japan's brand new Hitomi X-ray astronomy satellite that lost communication with Earth the previous day. In a Twitter post, the center, which tracks objects in orbit, said it identified ...
JAXA says communication link with X-ray astronomy satellite has been lost
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency says it has had trouble communicating with the newly launched Hitomi X-ray astronomy satellite and that at the moment it cannot ascertain its condition.
Japan's space agency has named an X-ray astronomy satellite that was successfully launched into space Wednesday the Hitomi (Eye), with scientists hoping the new equipment will help their quest to observe distant black holes and galaxies. The satellite, also called the Astro-H, was put into ...
North Korea's envoy to Britain: Pyongyang ready to launch 'satellite' into space at any time
North Korea is prepared to launch a controversial satellite "at any time," the country's ambassador to Britain said Wednesday. Hyon Hak Bong told an audience in London that North Korea is ready to launch the satellite — suspected by the international community to be a ...
After failed attempts, privately funded spacecraft finally spreads solar sails
A privately funded space project to demonstrate an innovative solar sail passed with flying colors despite a series of near-fatal technical issues, program managers said on Wednesday. The 11-pound (5 kg) LightSail spacecraft, tucked inside a 4- by 4- by 12-inch (10- by 10- by ...
Kim orders new Pyongyang space entity to ready October test-launch of ICBM: sources
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered a new aerospace entity to prepare to test-launch what the country calls a rocket carrying a satellite in October to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the country's ruling party, sources in a number ...
Arctic sea ice has set a new winter record by freezing over the smallest extent since satellite records began in 1979, in a new sign of long-term climate change, U.S. data showed on Thursday. The ice floating on the Arctic Ocean around the North Pole ...
