The Yellow River in China winds past aquaculture and an oil and gas field on its way to a newly formed channel.
NASA
With decades of images and data from the same locations, these satellites can show changes over time, including deforestation, changes in waterways and how loss of trees corresponds to urban heat.
Neil Hall/EPA
The Met Office issued its heatwave warning six days before the mercury peaked – potentially saving many lives.
Satellite imagery monitors environmental changes to inform agricultural decisions. Agricultural patterns are distinctly visible in this near-vertical false colour infrared photography of farmland south of Khartoum, Sudan.
(JSC/NASA)
Technologies being developed for growing food in space have contributed to advances in agriculture and crops on Earth.
A street fan provides relief on a hot summer day in New York City.
Stephen Chernin/Getty Images
Extreme heat waves are putting lives in danger, with some of the hottest urban neighborhoods 10 degrees hotter or more than their wealthier neighbors. Often, these are communities of color.
There is a U.S. flag on the Moon, but in the future, countries may start to turn access to the Moon and asteroids into serious wealth.
NASA/Neil A. Armstrong
Current trends suggest that powerful nations are defining the rules of resource use in space and satellite access in ways that will make it hard for developing nations to ever catch up.
NASA’s Landsat satellites have been monitoring changes on Earth’s landscape for 50 years.
NASA illustration
When Indigenous peoples lose their river flow to dams, satellite programs like Landsat – which is celebrating its 50th anniversary – can help them fight for their resources.
Michael Peterson / AP
Anti-satellite weapons could fill Earth’s orbit with space junk and make it unusable for military and civilian purposes
High speed trains like this one in Casablanca, Morocco, will benefit from satellite communication support.
Duffour/Andia/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Africa’s outer space programme can help the continent meet its other flagship goals.
NASA
Shrinking satellites are making it cheaper and more accessible to do science in space.
Department of Defence / LAC Sam Price
The future of Australia’s space efforts will hinge on coordination between defence, industry and universities.
Typical amounts of solar particles hitting the Earth’s magnetosphere can be beautiful, but too much could be catastrophic.
Svein-Magne Tunli - tunliweb.no/Wikimedia
Every few centuries the Sun blasts the Earth with a huge amount of high-energy particles. If it were to happen today, it would wreak havoc on technology.
Could Russia crash the ISS?
NASA
From harming satellites to crashing the ISS, the Ukraine war could soon extend to space.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, listens to Russian Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin during a meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia on Feb. 20, 2021.
(Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
The impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reaches into outer space, as Russia threatens to stop co-operating on supplying and participating in space missions.
The Sun occasionally ejects large amounts of energy and particles into space that can smash into Earth.
NASA/GSFC/SDO via WikimediaCommons
Space weather can affect satellites in a number of different ways, from frying electronics to increasing drag in the atmosphere.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari (L) and South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa perhaps need to extend their hand shakes into the outer space.
Photo by Phill Magakoe/AFP via Getty Images)
Nigeria-South Africa bi-national commission is a laudable initiative but missing the space cooperation element.
Damaged radar arrays and other equipment is seen at a Ukrainian military facility outside Mariupol, Ukraine, Feb. 24, 2022.
AP Photo/Sergei Grits
As war begins between Ukraine and Russia, a range of stories provides context to help readers understand the conflict.
A DIY satellite ground station in London, UK.
Dyer & Engelmann
With an antenna, a laptop and some software, you can take a picture of Earth from space.
Mountain glaciers are under threat from global warming.
Phunjo Lama/AFP via Getty Images
Glaciers in North America, Europe and the Andes, in particular, have significantly less ice than people realized.
The volcano shortly before its eruption.
Maxar via Getty Images
A phenomenon first theorized over 200 years ago is also a telltale sign of nuclear tests.
It’s important to have satellites collecting data about Africa, for Africa.
Immersion Imagery/Shutterstock
The nanosatellite constellation will detect, monitor and identify foreign vessels within the country’s maritime borders.