RFI from above is Anything but Heavenly Interference

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RFI from above is Anything but Heavenly Interference

Starlink satellites are emitting RFI that is causing issues for radio astronomers, even in so-called "radio quiet zones," such as the outback of Western Australia.

That is the finding of a research team that published their findings recently in the journal, Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters. Steven Tingay of Curtin University writes on the Cosmos magazine website that, using radio telescopes, the researchers detected signals at a number of licensed radio frequencies but their greatest concern was over intended and unintended emissions from elsewhere. They traced those to Starlink satellites. The scientists' tests were conducted at the site where an SKA-Low facility is to be built in Western Australia.

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Satellite Returns via Guided Re-Entry

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Satellite Returns via Guided Re-Entry

A satellite completing its five-year mission returned to Earth using a method designed to minimise stray space debris.

A British-built weather satellite achieved an unprecedented re-entry to Earth on Friday 28th July, guided by the European Space Agency.

The spacecraft, known as Aeolus, had outlived its usefulness in gathering data and monitoring weather after a five-year mission. It returned to Earth in an assisted crash into the Atlantic Ocean. The satellite, named after the Greek god of the winds, had served weather centres across Europe.

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Successful Orbit for CubeSATS Built in the Philippines

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Students in the Philippines are feeling proud that their two ham radio cubesats have entered orbit.

Two amateur radio cubesats from the Philippines are now in orbit. Maya-5 and Maya-6 were built by university students with the goal of helping the nation keep its momentum going on satellite development while using locally sourced materials. The primary mission of the cubesat pair is to give the amateur radio community a digital message relay service through the Automatic Packet Reporting System, or APRS. The onboard APRS digipeaters use the frequency of 145.825 MHz for transmitting and receiving. The cubesats are also demonstrating a data/message store-and-forward system compatible with Universal Amateur Radio Text and E-mail messaging.

The International Space Station released the cubesats on the 19th of July 2023