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SpaceX’s Starlink low-Earth orbit satellite network now has nearly 500,000 users and is available in 32 countries and nine languages. Continued expansion will bring high speed Internet service to other country except Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and Venezuela.
There are now 15,000 Starlink satellite dish terminals in Ukraine with service throughout the nation using ground station connections in Poland, Lithuania, and Turkey. The high speed Internet service made possible by Starlink has made a significant contribution in the war with Russia. The service has also demonstrated the value of low-Earth orbit satellites in combat.
NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) recently received approval for continuation of operation following the completion of its primary 3-year mission to measure the height of ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland. Launched into Low Earth Orbit in September 2018, ICESat-2 is capable of making extremely precise location and elevation measurements with its only science instrument, which is called the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System, or ATLAS. ATLAS works by sending laser pulses at exactly 532 nanometers in wavelength towards the surface 10,000 times per second and recording how many pulses are reflected as well as the time it takes them to be received to within a billionth of a second. This level of precision enables measurements of the Earth’s surface beneath the satellite to within about an inch. The data collected by the satellite informs scientists of the effects of climate change on the polar regions as well as other regions on the planet.
– Aaron J. Patrick
Little progress on Reflection Attitude. Travel, meetings, and other matters have kept me busy. The final cover is ready. Am still working on a third edit based on feedback. Based on upcoming travel, it is looking likely I will have to push the publication to September.
Markets up about 1%. Not a huge rally by any means but nice to see green instead of more red. The NASDAQ techs are gaining ground but with a long way to go. Many techs are at or close to their 52-week lows, but seem to be coming back. Gammat stocks $7.9 trillion.
Now more than 20,000 cryptocurrencies. Crypto market cap just below $1 trillion. Half of what it had been. Bitcoin is 42% of the total. Ethereum is 15%. All the rest is 42%. The decline has been large but nearly as large as many tech stocks. When techs rally I expect crypto will. Venture money still going into crypto and variants of blockchain.
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