There are now nearly 12,000 satellites orbiting Earth. What does it cost to put them there, and how do they make money? Zachary Crockett launches an investigation.
Jul 2020
Tiny Satellites: Eyes in the Sky, Thousands of Them
Lower manufacturing costs, innovative launch vehicles, miniaturized sub-systems and new sensor technologies have resulted in a surge in the number of satellites orbiting earth. The more than 1,300 small satellites orbiting earth means we can now scan any given location on the pla ... Show More
24m 39s
Aug 2022
Satellites versus the stars
If you look up into the night sky, there are around 7,000 active satellites orbiting the Earth. They’re part of our daily life – essential for things like the internet, the GPS in our cars and giving us weather reports. Seven thousand might not sound a lot in the infinite expanse ... Show More
28m 6s
Aug 2023
Elon Musk’s Quest to Own the Stars
<p>Satellites owned by Elon Musk’s Starlink orbit the earth and beam an internet connection to almost anywhere. In 2019, the company sent its first 60 or so satellites into orbit — today, it has some 4,500 circling the planet, with around 1.5 million customers across about 50 cou ... Show More
26m 58s
Sep 2022
Satellite Showdown
<p>How do satellites work? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice explore CubeSats, space lasers, and the ecology of low Earth orbit with VP of Raytheon, Sandy Brown, and associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics, Kerri Cahoy. </p><p>NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons ... Show More
43m 9s
Jan 2020
Space Junk: How Cluttered Is The Final Frontier?
Since the dawn of Sputnik in 1957, space-faring nations have been filling Earth's orbit with satellites. Think GPS, weather forecasting, telecommunications satellites. But as those have increased, so, too, has space junk. On today's show, we talk about the first mission to clean ... Show More
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