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Some time in the late 1990s I was lying on the grass in my back garden in the Bay Area. It was a clear night and I was just watching the sky when three satellit
by jgrahamc 2y ago
Some time in the late 1990s I was lying on the grass in my back garden in the Bay Area. It was a clear night and I was just watching the sky when three satellites flew over in formation. I don't know which satellites I saw but they were almost certainly part of a related program: https://www.satobs.org/noss.html https://www.satobs.org/noss.html
- echoangle 2y ago> NOSS satellites locate and track ships at sea by detecting their radio transmissions and analyzing them using the TDOA (time-difference-of-arrival) technique. Very cool, basically inverted GPS.
- sandworm101 2y agoExcept they didn't. The sats were sensors that relayed data down. Systems on the ground did the calculations. I imagine there was another revolution when proper computers started being put in orbit to do the math locally, vastly reducing the needed bandwidth.
- KineticLensman 2y agoMany years ago I saw the ISS overhead with a second smaller dot near it. This was the space shuttle (can't remember which mission) that had recently undocked and was still in the vicinity. Very pleasing!
- m4rtink 2y agoSaw that as well once or twice. Still doable today with ISS and Dragon or other visiting spacecraft - they are just smaller and harder to spot. :)