Aerospace is identifying opportunities to improve wildfire detection and monitoring capabilities, efforts that could ultimately protect biodiversity, infrastructure, and human life, as well as mitigate wildfires’ financially damaging effect. — In 2021, more than 2.5 million acres burned due to California’s wildfires. The estimated economic loss was between $70 billion and $90 billion in the United States, with over half of that attributed to a California wildfire season aggravated by drought and intensified temperatures. …

Our Space Debris Expert is back to answer questions about protecting the International Space Station, the consequences of a debris cloud, and how we track space debris. — Astronauts are at risk while inside the International Space Station (ISS) and while outside the station conducting spacewalks. …

CarbonWatch has the ability to identify and monitor the largest sources of carbon emissions from humans, day and night. — The five percent of carbon emissions in the atmosphere, biosphere, and oceans attributable to human activity has disrupted the Earth’s natural carbon cycle and is driving long-term climate change. …

A new sensor from The Aerospace Corporation can detect the speed and type of vessel by the wakes it leaves behind. — Measuring human activity at sea has multiple applications, including environmental monitoring, resource management and national security, but the ability to effectively detect vessels in expansive ocean settings is a challenge with technologies like sonar and radar. …

The 21-metric-ton rocket body, Long March 5B, is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere this weekend. How did this happen, and where will it hit? A large Chinese rocket stage is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere in the coming days and experts are concerned about the potential impact of the debris. …

From small satellites to the International Space Station, the new frontier for studying our planet is miles above it. — It turns out one of the best ways to study Planet Earth is to leave it. As human access to space has sped up, scientists increasingly rely on everything from satellites to the International Space Station to study our planet and changes to our climate. …

The 2.9-ton pallet of old batteries is traveling toward Earth at 4.8 miles per second. — The International Space Station just discarded 2.9 tons of old batteries — the largest piece of space debris to be dropped from the space station to date. Engineers in Houston used the Canadarm2 robotic arm to drop the pallet of nickel-hydrogen batteries from the space station’s orbit, 260 miles above…

Engineers are revolutionizing active satellite re-positioning with a new method called Project Rollercoaster. — When a natural disaster strikes or a national security emergency breaks out, every minute counts. In many cases, satellite imagery is a key tool for first responders. But it can take a satellite in low earth orbit 100 minutes to make one of the many passes needed to provide global…

Scientists explore the mysteries of the Aurora with a stunning light show. — It’s hard to tell, but behind the beautiful, glimmering greens and blues of the Northern Lights hides a world of violence. The colorful glow of the Auroras (also known as the aurora borealis or polar lights) is the result of particles from the sun releasing energy as they bombard Earth’s…

The NIRAC camera uses the Earth’s natural airglow to capture stunning nighttime imagery. — A new infrared camera is now obtaining unique high-contrast, nighttime images from its home on the International Space Station (ISS). The 45-kilogram instrument, known as the Near Infrared Airglow Camera (NIRAC), will provide detailed observations of clouds at night for weather prediction, among other applications.

Climate change has opened a growing number of treacherous Arctic shipping lanes. A pair of CubeSats, nicknamed Polar Scout, will help locate stranded ships. — For decades, the dense sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean has been shrinking and, in some regions, disappearing altogether. …

Engineers take to the skies to measure the environmental and atmospheric effects of wildfires and the smoke they generate. — As the world’s climate heats up, many states in the western United States are experiencing increasingly larger and more devastating wildfires, along with a corresponding increase in dangerous air quality from wildfire smoke. …

Unique nighttime imagery sensors help rescuers anticipate a fire’s evolution based on temperature and smoke plume movement. — A single spark in remote wilderness can ignite massive fires that devastate surrounding communities, destroying homes and taking lives. Emergency personnel and the public rely on satellites high above the Earth to detect these fires early and track their spread. When a lightning storm set Northern California ablaze in August…

A 25-meter asteroid could devastate an area of Earth the size of Manhattan. Here’s how artificial intelligence can make sure that doesn’t happen. — It’s a classic science fiction storyline: An asteroid is on target to smash into Earth and send humans the way of the dinosaurs. It’s not total fantasy. In 1908, a meteoroid slammed into Russia near the Tunguska River in Siberia and destroyed an area the size of Manhattan. …

Experts are harnessing the peculiar features of quantum physics to establish secure communications with orbiting spacecraft. — Space-based technologies have rapidly transformed the modern world yet the systems themselves are surprisingly vulnerable. As more entrants to the space enterprise emerge, new threats and risks must be accounted for to ensure the infrastructure can respond to any potential threats.