Space and satellites

Part of Electronics, energy and space. Semiconductors, telecom, electric vehicles, batteries, clean power and space.

5 stories so far

All programmes 5BCE Civil 2BCT Computer 0BEI Electronics 5

Electronics, energy & space11 Oct, 2:29 pm · 5 min read

SpaceX Starship reaches orbit and deploys 26 Starlink satellites

Starship's 14th flight was its first to reach orbit and first to deliver working satellites, though engine faults ended it about seven hours early.

For you: Starship is meant to launch the larger third-generation Starlink satellites in bulk, which shapes the cost and capacity of satellite internet in remote areas. Low-earth-orbit broadband will keep coming up in Nepal's telecom policy debates and in the work of its telecom operators. The engineering behind it, phased-array antennas, inter-satellite laser links and handover between fast-moving satellites, is advanced communication material that builds on BEI courses in antennas and wireless systems.

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Electronics, energy & space11 Oct, 1:52 pm · 5 min read

Vega-C launches ESA's FLEX plant-glow satellite and Sentinel-3C

Europe's first Vega-C dual launch put a satellite that measures plant fluorescence and a new Copernicus ocean and land monitor into orbit.

For you: Measuring a signal far weaker than reflected sunlight from orbit is a sensor and signal-processing problem: spectrometer design, detector noise and calibration are standard BEI material. Copernicus data, including Sentinel-3, is free to download, so a Nepali student can use it in a final-year project on lake levels, snow cover or crop stress with Python tools. Civil students can use the same data for watershed and hydrology work. Free satellite data skills are in demand at Nepali agencies and NGOs.

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Electronics, energy & space11 Oct, 1:16 pm · 5 min read

ISRO's GSLV places EOS-05 imaging satellite in geosynchronous orbit

India's first imaging satellite to work from geosynchronous orbit can picture the whole Indian landmass every 30 minutes, ending an eight-month launch gap.

For you: A camera parked over South Asia that refreshes every half hour changes how floods and cloudbursts can be tracked in the Himalaya, where polar-orbit satellites pass only once or twice a day. The work behind it sits in BEI subjects: satellite communication links, image sensors, onboard data handling and telemetry. Civil students meet the same data in remote sensing and GIS for hazard mapping. Learning to process multispectral and hyperspectral imagery in free tools is a skill Nepali disaster and hydropower agencies already ask for.

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Electronics, energy & space11 Oct, 1:10 pm · 6 min read

NASA's Roman Space Telescope launches with a 300-megapixel camera

The Roman telescope left Florida on a Falcon Heavy for a point beyond the Moon, carrying an infrared camera with a view 100 times wider than Hubble's.

For you: Roman is an electronics story as much as an astronomy one. Cooling infrared detectors far below freezing, reading out 300 million pixels without adding noise and sending 1.4 terabytes a day across 1.5 million km are problems in sensor design, data compression and deep-space radio links. These sit in BEI courses on communication systems and instrumentation. The same detector and readout skills are used in medical imaging, security cameras and satellite payloads.

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Electronics, energy & space11 Oct, 1:04 pm · 5 min read

China postpones Chang'e-7 Moon south pole mission past 2026

China's space agency called off the Chang'e-7 launch days after rollout, saying it did not meet launch conditions in this year's window.

For you: Students often see only successful launches. A scrub that cancels a whole year's window shows how much depends on tests, reviews and the courage to stop. Polar landers also need hard engineering in power, thermal control and radio relay, because the Sun stays low and some craters never see light. These are applied topics in BEI courses on communication and power systems. The decision is also a reminder to treat any announced space schedule, Chinese, Indian or American, as a target.

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