Satellites

White Hat Hackers Expose Iridium Satellite Security Flaws

February 12, 2025
Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

In a recent demonstration, German white hat hackers showed how to intercept text messages sent via the U.S. satellite communication system Iridium and locate users with an accuracy of about 4 kilometers.The two hackers, known publicly only under the nicknames Sec and Schneider, made the revelations during a presentation at…

January 1, 2025
Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Metallurgy & Material Science

This story is part of our Top Tech 2025 special report.Methane Measurements for the MassesFrom high above us, satellites track devastating emissions of the greenhouse gases that will alter our climate. So far, their data has been private, shared only with companies or governments. MethaneSAT is changing that. Launched on…

December 28, 2024
Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

For IEEE Spectrum readers following telecommunications news in 2024, signals expanding their reach and range animated readers to read more: Including stories on early-stage cellphone “towers” now in low-earth orbit, low-power Wi-Fi implementations reaching out for kilometers, China expanding its satellite broadband constellations into regions of the globe dominated by…

October 3, 2024
Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

Satellites with extremely low-orbits could lower launch costs and improve sensing and communication capabilities. Indian start-up Bellatrix Aerospace has unveiled plans for a spacecraft that will orbit at altitudes below 200 kilometers, and the company says it aims to launch its first satellite by 2026. Anything below 1,200 kilometers is…

September 28, 2024
Aerospace & Aeronautical

After three years in orbit, Europe’s Sunstorm CubeSat re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on 4 September, completing its mission to monitor X-ray pulses from solar flares, the breeding ground of disruptive space weather phenomena. These flares are sometimes accompanied by coronal mass ejections that spew billions of tonnes of material from the…

September 10, 2024
Aerospace & Aeronautical

Just how hot was that salsa? A European Space Agency (ESA) aircraft embarked on a mission on Sunday, 8 September, to answer this very question. The agency’s observational airplane—taking off from Easter Island, Chile—was geared up to collect data on a 24-year-old Earth observation satellite called Salsa as it burned…

August 8, 2024
Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

The idea has always been, well, out there. What if we put giant arrays of solar panels in space, where the sun never sets and clouds never form, to collect limitless electricity to beam to Earth? For a world badly in need of clean, continuous energy, space-based solar power seems…

June 11, 2024
Aerospace & Aeronautical

A rocket featuring the world’s first rocket engine 3D printed as a single piece blasted off from India’s east coast in late May. Startup Agnikul fabricated the engine in just 72 hours and hopes the approach could open the door to “on-demand” rocket launches for operators of small satellites. The…

June 7, 2024
Computer & Information Technology

Just as early mariners used simple compasses to chart courses across the sea, today’s ships, planes, satellites, and smartphones can rely on Earth’s magnetic field to find their bearings. The difference is that today’s rather more sophisticated compasses have the aid of complex models, like the commonly used World Magnetic…

May 14, 2024
Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation

A recent Bluetooth connection between a device on Earth and a satellite in orbit signals a potential new space race—this time, for global location-tracking networks.Seattle-based startup Hubble Network announced today that it had a letter of understanding with San Francisco-based startup Life360 to develop a global, satellite-based Internet of Things…

White Hat Hackers Expose Iridium Satellite Security Flaws

9 Intriguing Engineering Feats for 2025

The Top 10 Telecommunications Stories of 2024

Indian Startup Plans to Build Ultra-Low Orbit Satellite

Miniature Sun-Watcher Completes 3-Year Mission

European Satellite Burns Up for Science

Space-Based Solar Power Gets Practical

Indian Startup 3D Prints Rocket Engine in Just 72 Hours

Errors in Navigational Models Could Have an Easy Answer

Startup Sends Bluetooth Into Low Earth Orbit

Google won two major awards at MWC Barcelona 2025.

Expanding AI Overviews and introducing AI Mode

This MRI Can Run on Batteries

The Tiny Star Explosions Powering Moore’s Law