The International Space Station (ISS) was caught looking a little undignified in a new photo captured by an imaging satellite in orbit.
An experimental satellite that launched in 1974 disappeared from ground-based sensors in the 1990s, only to be found again this week. Some defunct satellites or debris can often go missing for years, presenting hazards within an increasingly crowded Earth orbit. But, how exactly do objects disappear in space?
Picking up the trash in space could be as easy as stuffing pieces of defunct spacecraft into a giant bag, closing it up, and tossing the pesky space junk into an orbital recycling plant. At least that’s what space startup TransAstra hopes to do with its inflatable capture bag.
A satellite in geostationary orbit ran into some trouble when the device meant to position its solar arrays towards the Sun malfunctioned, preventing it from being fully charged.