satellite

This is what ICARUS can do now that it has its own satellite

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The ICARUS project, devised by the Max Planck Institute to monitor animals around the world from space, is not new. However, after a break that began with the ukrainian warlast year it began to be reactivated and this month it took its biggest step forward: placing its own satellite into orbit. Thanks to this, it will be possible to do a much more exhaustive monitoring of the animal world, reaching conclusions that may even be useful for studying the progress of climate change or zoonotic diseases. RAVEN goes into action. RAVEN is the first satellite of the Icarus program. Until 2022, it had only one receiver located in the Russian module of the International Space Station (ISS). that year relations of the Max Planck Institute were broken with Russia, so Icarus operations on the International Space Station were paused. However, those responsible for the project did not give up. They partnered with the New Space company TALOS to miniaturize the system and turn it into a payload that could travel to space on a CubeSat satellite. This was already achieved in November 2025, when the receiver was placed on a German satellite sent into space for other purposes. However, this May they have gone further by placing their own satellite into orbit. This not only allows the fauna to be studied more widely and, above all, with greater independence. It also consumes a tenth of the energy consumed by the ISS device. A long history of wildlife observation. Wildlife observation has gone through many phases. Initially, only the animals could be monitored directly. Scientists hid to observe them on site, in their habitat, trying to disturb them as little as possible. Then camera traps were devised. These are still used today, but logically they have certain limitations, since there are many blind spots that are not captured by them. Later transmitters were developed that can be placed directly on the bodies of animals. However, to capture the signals they emitted it was necessary to use antennas that could not be very far from the place where they were located. Faced with all these problems, it occurred to a group of scientists from the Max Planck Institute that the key could be to observe animals from space, since this allows much more data to be collected throughout the planet, simultaneously and continuously. An upgradeable transmitter. The International Cooperation for Research on Animals Using Space (ICARUS) is a wildlife observation program that is mainly based on two devices: the transmitters that are placed on the bodies of the animals and the receiver that is directed into space. The transmitters used today They are labels measuring 4 grams in mass and more or less the size of a euro cent coin in the smallest cases. They run on solar energy, resist sudden changes in temperature and are comfortable, so that animals can carry out their lives normally. In addition, they must go unnoticed so as not to become easy prey for their predators. Still, for smaller animals, such as insects, this size is still a limitation. Icarus scientists are working to create one that weighs less than a gram and is much smaller. The transmitters can still be improved A receiver that has improved a lot. The first ICARUS receiver was installed on the ISS in 2018, during a spacewalk by cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Sergey Prokopyev. It had little to do with the RAVEN satellite that is already operating in low Earth orbit. Without a doubt, the receiver has evolved a lot in a short time. Many applications. Monitoring animals from space is useful for many reasons. Broadly speaking, it seems that it only serves to know where they are at all times and, therefore, control their migrations. But that may have other implicit applications. For example, if migrations occur earlier or later than usual, or to places that are not typical for that species, it may be due to changes in temperatures associated with climate change. It’s a way to continue the advance of this phenomenon. You can also see how the animals that are reservoirs of zoonotic diseases are distributed and, thus, establish risk areas. ICARUS is even starting to be used to track poachers. If the animals flee in fright and it is not related to the presence of predators, the predator may be human. In some countriesthis is still the order of the day and it is important to look for ways to locate them in order to stop them before they act. ICARUS scientists hope train an algorithm that helps them detect possible poachers taking into account these escapes along with other factors. In summary… There are many applications, and all this thanks to a silent guardian that is already watching in space without the need for space stations to support it. Image | Magnific/Ororatech (X) | Max Planck Institute In Xataka | These are the invasive animals that are eating endangered animals

Satellite images reveal how much Russia fears Ukraine’s drones. 7,000 km away they are covering their nuclear missiles

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The British Navy discovered something truly absurd during naval tests in 1945: a single flock of birds could appear on the radar with a signature similar to that of enemy aircraft. Eight decades later, some of the most sophisticated military systems on the planet clash again to the same problem: Tiny, cheap threats that are difficult to distinguish before it is too late. The drone war against the Russian nuclear arsenal. They counted this week in Naval News that satellite images taken over the Russian submarine base of Rybachiy, on the Kamchatka Peninsula, reveal the extent to which drone warfare in Ukraine is altering Russian military logic even thousands of kilometers from the front. to some 7,400 kilometers of Ukrainetwo strategic nuclear submarines of the Borei class They have appeared completely covered with anti-drone nets while they remain docked in port. The scene is shocking because these submarines are part of the core of Russian nuclear deterrent: each one carries 16 Bulava ballistic missiles capable of launching intercontinental nuclear attacks. However, even that geographical distance no longer seems sufficient for Moscow to feel completely safe from possible surprise Ukrainian operations. From the Black Sea to the Pacific nuclear fleet. The evolution reflects how drones have ceased to be an exclusively tactical problem and have become a strategic threat. Russia had been installing for some time cages, nets and metal structures improvised on ships and patrol boats in the Black Sea to try to stop Ukrainian FPV attacks. Now that same logic has reached some of the most sensitive platforms in its entire military arsenal. The fear does not seem to focus so much on drones launched directly from Ukraine, something practically impossible at such a distance, but on covert operations similar to those that have already hit Russian targets very far from the front. The idea of ​​small cheap drones reaching multi-million dollar strategic assets It has even begun to modify the protection of nuclear submarines. A small threat capable of altering the strategic balance. The nets observed on the Borei do not hide the submarines from satellites nor do they serve as conventional camouflage. Its function It’s purely defensive.: prevent light drones from approaching, landing on the deck or launching explosive charges at vulnerable points, especially on hatches and exposed systems while the submarines are on the surface. Russia had already installed similar protections on some Baltic and Arctic submarines, but on Rybachiy the coverage is much more extensive and envelops practically the entire vessel. There is no doubt, the image conveys a certainly powerful conclusion: the Kremlin already considers it plausible that cheap, improvised and difficult to detect attacks could threaten even part of its nuclear triad. The great psychological change of the war in Ukraine. Beyond the real effectiveness of these networks, the important detail is rather psychological and strategic. Ukraine has managed to get Russia to dedicate resources, time and defensive concern to bases located on the other end of the continent Eurasian. For decades, the logic of nuclear deterrence assumed that submarines hidden in remote bases were virtually untouchable except in an all-out war between great powers. And this is where drones have begun to erode that sense of immunity. The war in Ukraine is showing that a country with limited resources can force a nuclear superpower to cover with mesh improvised some of their most important systems for fear of unexpected attacks. When “nuclear” fears the cheapest. In short, the image of nuclear submarines protected with networks recalls the extent to which the Ukrainian conflict is transforming modern military rules. Platforms designed to survive atomic wars, operate under the ocean for months, and launch intercontinental missiles now also have to worry about cheap quadcopters, commercial explosives, and improvised attacks. Of course, Russia still maintains a huge nuclear and naval advantagebut the proliferation of drones is altering something much more difficult to measure than weapons: the feeling of (in)security. And when even the most remote nuclear bases begin to be armored against small drones, it means that the war in Ukraine has already changed the global perception of military vulnerability. Image | Vantor In Xataka | Once again, Ukraine has opened a missile launched by Russia. Once again, surprising manufacturers have been found In Xataka | Russia has been advancing at a snail’s pace in Ukraine for months. That’s about to change because of one season: summer.

China wants to do a “CAT scan” of the Earth, and to do so it has launched a hyperspectral satellite to see what the eye cannot see

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A Kuaizhou-11 rocket put into orbit On March 16, Xiguang-1 06, the most advanced commercial hyperspectral satellite that China has sent into space. The satellite is capable of analyzing the chemical composition of the Earth’s surface with great precision, opening up a whole range of possibilities. What a hyperspectral satellite allows. A conventional satellite captures images of the planet in a similar way to how a camera does. A hyperspectral satellite, on the other hand, is able to distinguish the unique spectral signature of plants, tissues and other objects on Earth, which allows, among other things, to prevent crop losses, locate mineral deposits or monitor the state of the environment. While a normal satellite can identify a forest from space, one equipped with hyperspectral technology can differentiate between different types of trees and even determine the health status of each of them. The key is that these sensors capture dozens or hundreds of bands of the electromagnetic spectrum simultaneously, something that provides spectral information so detailed that it often produces results impossible to obtain with multispectral satellites or other types of observation systems. The satellite. The Xiguang-1 06 was developed by Xi’an Zhongke Xiguang Aerospace Technology Group and launched aboard the Kuaizhou-11 Y7 rocket from the Jiuquan launch center in Gansu province. It is the first commercial hyperspectral satellite in orbit with full spectral coverage in the 400 to 2,500 nanometer band (from visible to shortwave infrared) and operates with 26 independent spectral bands. In practical terms, that means it can “see” far beyond the human eye, detecting mineral compositions, differentiating healthy crops from diseased ones, and tracking changes in ecosystems that would be invisible to any other system. According to Kou Yiminchief engineer at Zhongke What is it for in practice? In the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan the satellite monitors crop growth high value such as tea and traditional Chinese medicinal plants; in the mining areas of the northwest of the country, it issues early warnings about geological risks such as landslides. But the potential reach goes much further. Hyperspectral technology can analyze phytoplankton levels in the oceans, detect fuel spills from ships, measure methane leaks in energy facilities or monitor polluting materials from mining ponds before they reach nearby soil and vegetation. It can also locate mineral deposits such as gold under the surface, identifying the presence of chemical elements in its composition such as copper. one of many. Xiguang-1 06 is one more piece of “Xiguang-1”, a constellation that contemplates a total of 158 satellites: 108 general purpose hyperspectral remote sensing, 40 specialized in carbon emissions monitoring and 10 specific function. The goal is to complete the in-orbit network by 2030, forming a “full spectrum in 100 bands” observing system with more than one hundred operational satellites. To understand its scale, Xiguang-1 06 was one of eight satellites that traveled aboard the same Kuaizhou-11 rocket at the March 16 launch. What’s behind. Until a few years ago, hyperspectral remote sensing from space had been a field almost exclusive of government missions. In recent years, however, commercial companies have begun to emerge launching their own constellations of hyperspectral satellites. China, with Zhongke Xiguang at the helm, is one of the actors that has risen the fastest in this sector. The company also has the “CAS Xiguang Remote Sensing Cloud” data platform, considered the first hyperspectral data platform from China. The stated goal is to become the world’s largest hyperspectral constellation, with applications already covering agriculture, forestry management, oceanography, carbon monitoring and mining. Cover image | China Daily and Richard Gatley In Xataka | The origin of the “blue moon” is actually a translation error: how a “betrayal” ended up giving the satellite its name

how a “betrayal” ended up giving its name to the satellite

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Despite the immense amount of information that exists denying it, they continue to sneak it in from time to time with the topic of colored moons. Just look at what happened last April with the famous pink moon. Many people looked at the sky again, hoping that our satellite would turn strawberry colored. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Now, we read everywhere that we will have a blue moon in May. This is a real term. The blue moon exists. But no, it’s not the color you’re imagining. When? The blue moon of May will be seen next day 31. Without a doubt, it will be a beautiful moment to look at the sky, but simply because a full moon is always a great spectacle. Not because it’s visibly special. Two in a month or four in a season. Actually, the term “blue moon” is used to talk about an extra moon. The Moon goes around the Earth in 29.5 days, so we normally have 12 full moons in a year. One every month. However, since it does not coincide exactly with the 30 or 31 days of the month (or less if it is February), it may happen that from time to time two full moons fall in the same month. That extra moon is what is known as a blue moon. On the other hand, the same thing happens with the seasons. There are usually three at each station. However, since the solar and lunar calendars do not coincide exactly, sometimes there can be four in the same season. The third of these moons is what is also known as the blue moon. It’s not blue. Curiously, the term “blue moon” comes from a poor translation from Old English. When speaking of stationary blue moons, the third full moon of a four-year season It was known as the “traitor moon.”. This is a deceptive moon, since it seems that the season is already ending, but no. There is still another full moon. In Old English the term “belewe” was used as “traitor”. However, this became “blue” as it spread from word to mouth and it began to be called a blue moon. It has nothing to do with its color. To the eye, a blue moon looks exactly like any other. When it is blue. The moon, full or not, can be seen in different colors depending on the presence of certain particles in the atmosphere. There are some that are capable of dispersing the redder lengths of the electromagnetic spectrum, thus filtering the blue light and causing the sky to be tinted with this tone. With others, just the opposite happens and the sky turns red. Generally, particles emitted by volcanoes erupt They are of the first type. That is why in 1883, during a Krakatoa eruptionmany witnesses began to say that the moon had turned blue. There, the term took on a new nuance. However, it is simply an exception. More common than it seems. Blue moons are actually quite common. It is estimated that between 1550 and 2650 there will be 408 seasonal blue moons and 456 monthly blue moons. Next year, without going any further, we will have another one, also in May, although this time it will be seasonal and will happen on the 20th. In short, don’t let them fool you with the color, but take advantage of the fact that this month you have two full moons and look up. There is no better way to decorate the sky than with a good full moon. Image | Contri from Yonezawa, Yamagata, Japan In Xataka | Light pollution is a growing problem. So researchers have put it on a map

The most buoyant market right now is selling streaming and satellite images of US movements to Iran.

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In recent years, the number of active satellites in orbit has exceeded 7,500many of them dedicated to observing the Earth with a precision that allows us to distinguish objects just a few meters away. At the same time, millions of position signals from aircraft and ships were broadcast every minute openly throughout the planet. Never before has there been so much accessible information about what is happening, in almost real time, anywhere on the planet. A new war market in real time. The war in Iran has opened a unexpected showcaseor where each military movement becomes almost immediate content, packaged and disseminated as if it were a live event by an international artist. Chinese technology companies have detected that opportunity and have begun to offer detailed analysis on US bases, deployments and operations using open data combined with artificial intelligence. What previously required state intelligence resources is now presented as an accessible, visual and viral product, capable of circulating both on social networks and specialized platforms. The result is a kind military streaming where the movements of a superpower are transformed into information merchandise. Fusion between open data and AI. I counted this week the Washington Post that the core of this phenomenon is in the combination of public sources (such as satellite images, flight trackers or maritime data) with algorithms capable of processing them on a large scale. Here are companies that we had already talked about before like MizarVisionwhich use these resources to reconstruct entire deployments, identify aircraft types or follow naval group routes in near real time. Although much of the data already existed, the difference now is in speedautomation and the ability to cross-reference information on a massive scale, turning simple scattered signals into coherent military narratives. This drastically reduces the distance between the public and the strategic. Intelligence as a commercial product. The real turn is not only in technology, but in the business model that surrounds her. These companies do not operate like traditional intelligence agencies, but rather as suppliers that sell visibility on military operations, promoting their capabilities with real examples of active conflicts. Signatures as Jing’an Technology They have even gone so far as to publish alleged records of communications or mission reconstructionsreinforcing the idea that they can “see everything.” Thus, war ceases to be just a geopolitical scenario and becomes a source of income based on the exploitation of raw information transformed into digestible intelligence. Money flows in only one direction. Behind this apparent democratization of intelligence there is a very specific economic flow that mainly benefits the Chinese technological ecosystem. They remembered in the post that many of these companies have grown under the umbrella of the integration strategy Beijing civil-militaryreceiving funding and indirect support to develop dual capabilities. Every report sold, every analysis disseminated and every platform used rstrengthens that industrial fabricfeeding a circuit where data (often generated by Western infrastructures) ends up generating value within China. In practice, monitoring the movements of the United States not only exposes its operations, but also helps finance the technological development of a strategic competitor. A diffuse but growing threat. Although US authorities doubt that these companies can penetrate truly sensitive systems, the problem lies not so much in absolute precision as in the trend that they can represent. The ability to map movements, detect patterns and anticipate deployments is already a advantage in scenarios crisis, even if the data is not perfect. Furthermore, this model offers China an additional advantage: it can benefit from the information without officially getting involvedusing private companies as intermediaries. The consequence is something of a new type of battlefield, one where open, processed and commercialized information becomes a strategic weapon in itself. Image | MizarVision In Xataka | The US is redrawing the map of its bases in Europe. And none of the countries that have said “no to war” appear In Xataka | Of all the paradoxes of the war in the Middle East, few imagined this ending: with a “half-way” deal between the US and Iran

SpaceX is about to go public promising to bring AI to space. What really sells is satellite Internet

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SpaceX has confidentially registered with the SECthe US regulator, its application to go public, in what could become the largest public offering in history. Why is it important. The valuation of Musk’s company exceeds one and a half billion dollars, and the objective is to raise between 50,000 and 75,000 million euros before the end of June. To put it in perspective: the IPO of the Arab oil company Saudi Aramco in 2019until now the largest in history, raised just over 25,000 million. Furthermore, this news has been presented as a milestone in space exploration, but if you read between the lines, the real story is different. Between the lines. The story that SpaceX is going to sell to Wall Street mixes rockets, Mars and AI. It is the perfect cocktail to attract capital in 2026, but analysts who have looked at the numbers and quote Reuters are a little cruder: the $1.5 trillion valuation is only supported by starlinkthe satellite Internet service that already has nine million subscribers and generated $8 billion in revenue in 2024 alone. SpaceX billed between 15,000 and 16,000 million dollars in 2025, with about 8,000 million in profit. Starlink accounts for the clear majority of that revenue and almost all of the margins. The orbital data centersthe great promise of the IPO, are still an unproven concept. As said market strategist Shay Boloor: “Starlink is the only reason this assessment is defensible.” The contrast. SpaceX was born in 2002 with a mission: to make humanity multiplanetary. Mars as a destination and reusable rockets as a means. That narrative has had to give some ground. And Wall Street, which has been buying anything with the word AI for years, hears that and opens its wallet. The money trail. This year, SpaceX absorbed xAI, Musk’s AI startup and now also the parent company of X. Musk paid $44 billion for Twitter in 2022 and since then, X and xAI are projects that consume a lot of cash, especially the latter. SpaceX’s IPO, according to The New York Timesis proposed among other things to pay the debt that Twitter incurred when Musk bought it and to finance xAI’s data centers. In other words: the jewel in the crown finances loss-making companies. The big question. Can SpaceX trade at $1.5 trillion with markets shaken by war? The Nasdaq just suffered its worst week in almost a yearwith the war between the United States and Iran in the background and oil skyrocketing. Some bankers have pushed SpaceX to keep between 15,000 and 20,000 million in cash before exiting. For what may happen. The moment of debut can be decisive for the worse even if the fundamentals are great. What is certain is that if the operation goes ahead, Musk, who owns about 42-44% of SpaceX, will almost certainly cross the threshold of a trillion dollars of personal wealth. He would be the first billionaire in history. In Xataka | Seven of the ten largest fortunes in the world in 2026 are due to AI: this illustrative graph makes it very clear Featured image | SpaceX

Satellite images have revealed the location of Russia’s largest warship, and that means Ukraine can see it too

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During the Second World War there was a announcement to sailors of future conflicts: some of the largest ships ever built were destroyed without having barely entered combat, becoming symbols of how vulnerable even the most advanced weaponry can be. Decades later, with the advent of commercial satellites and precision weapons, that exposure is even greater. Few doubts from space. The latest images satellites show a reality that is difficult to ignore: Russia is about to complete his largest warship in the Black Sea. The superstructure is practically complete, the flight deck is now fully identifiable and the work is advancing towards its final phase with key elements almost ready. However, this same monitoring from space also reveals the another side of the projectsince the ship remains motionless in a shipyard located within the reach of the ukrainian attack systemsmaking each advancement a race against time where finishing it is only half the challenge. Global ambition. He Ivan Rogov represents much more than a new ship for the Russian fleet, since it is conceived as a projection platform of force capable of operating far from its coasts and sustaining complex operations. With the capacity to transport hundreds of marines, military vehicles and an air wing of attack and transport helicopters, the ship fits into the category of large amphibious ships used by Western powers. Its size, greater than 200 meters, would make it in the greatest asset of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, which reinforces its not only military, but also symbolic value within Moscow’s strategy. Born from failure. The existence by Ivan Rogov is directly linked to an earlier strategic setback, when Russia attempted to acquire Mistral-class amphibious ships from France and the deal was canceled after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. From then on, Moscow was forced to develop your own designgiving rise to project 23900which combines its own technology with knowledge partially acquired during that failed contract. This context explains why the ship has a special weight within Russian military planning, since it symbolizes both the need for industrial autonomy and the ability to move forward despite sanctions and technological limitations. Protected, but not untouchable. The ship is being built in the Zaliv shipyardin Crimea, a facility that Russia has reinforced with multiple layers of protection to reduce the risk of attacks. Physical barriers, networks against naval drones and security measures have been deployed at the access to the dam, in addition to indirectly benefiting from the air defense that protects nearby strategic infrastructures such as the Kerch bridge. However, these measures do not guarantee invulnerability, since Ukraine has shown repeatedly its ability to attack targets in depth and degrade defensive systems, keeping the shipyard within a risk zone constant. Investment under threat. Russia has maintained the project despite economic difficulties, sanctions and pressure derived from the war, which implies a huge investment of around of 1,200 million of dollars and a sustained commitment of industrial resources. This effort reflects the strategic importance that Moscow attributes to the ship, but also increases the associated risk, since the loss of the Ivan Rogov would mean not only a military setback, but also a economic and reputational blow significant. In other words, the project has become a high-risk bet for Russia where success or failure will have an impact that goes beyond the ship itself. The real change. Beyond of the specific destination of the warship, what the case reveals is a deeper change in the nature of modern warfare, one where the military industry ceases to be a safe space in the rear and becomes on a direct target. In that sense, Ukraine does not need to confront an entire fleet to weaken Russia, but can instead focus at critical points such as shipyards, energy infrastructure or supply chains, affecting production capacity before systems even enter combat. In short, the displacement of the conflict towards the industrial base alters traditional rules and demonstrates that, in the current context, a weapon can be destroyed long before it has the opportunity to be used. Image | x In Xataka | With the arrival of good weather in Ukraine, Russia thought it was a good idea to bring out its hidden tanks. It wasn’t at all In Xataka | An exoskeleton worthy of ‘Alien’ or ‘Death Stranding’: the war in Ukraine is bringing the future sooner than expected

Thousands of people were following the Iran war with satellite images from Planet Labs. So the US has closed it

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The satellite images are a key piece for modern military intelligence. They are the eyes on the ground, they allow you to see where the enemy is, their supply routes, their defenses and plan more precise attacks. For the public, they are the direct window to the battlefield and in the Iran conflict there are two companies that are deciding whether to let us watch or not, one is American and one is Chinese. Guess who is who. The Planet Labs blackout. It is a satellite earth imaging company based in San Francisco. It operates a network of more than 200 satellites that allows them to provide global coverage of the planet, recording more than 300 million square kilometers of images collected every day. Planet Labs images have been key in conflicts such as the ukrainian war or the escalation of tensions between China and Taiwan. However, when it comes to a conflict in which the US is the protagonist, things change. The restriction: On March 6, Planet Labs announced a four-day delay in the publication of its images of the Middle East, a measure they described as “temporary and intended to protect personnel and operations.” The controversy: What is striking is that the delay affected countries with a US military presence (Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), while the images of Iran continued to be published almost in real time. This unleashed reviews on Xcalling it a measure to manipulate public opinion by hiding the damage to US bases, while only showing the damage caused to Iran. The extension: The company recently extended this delay to 14 days. According to statements to Reutersseek to ensure that your data “does not contribute in any way to attacks against allied, NATO personnel or civilian populations.” Mizar Vision. Given the Planet Labs blackout, there is a company that continues to offer satellite images almost in real time. It is about Mizar Vision, a Chinese startup based in Shanghai that does not have its own satellites, but instead purchases commercial images. Its value is that it applies an AI layer that detects, geolocates and tags military assets in almost real time and publishes them on Weibo, the Chinese social network. There is an account on X with the same name, but the company has already confirmed that It is not an official account. Attack prediction. Two days before the attack on Iran, Mizar Vision published images which showed planes lined up on the runway of the Diego García base, signaling that the attack was imminent. They were high resolution images in which details such as the model of the aircraft could be distinguished. They also identified other key infrastructures such as the anti-missile systems that the US has in Jordan and the al-Udeid base in Qatar, all of them. attacked by Iran days later. Mizar Vision is the open window to the battlefield, but we can all look, the Iranian army too. The shadow of Beijing. The images prior to the attack were shared by accounts with links to Chinese People’s Liberation Army. They count in The Country That analysts wonder to what extent the Chinese government is encouraging the publication of such detailed images, with such precision and in real time in a context of such tension. The company continues to publish images of US military movements in the region. In Xataka | A creepy sound is being repeated in the Middle East: it is called C-RAM, it comes from the US, and it is the prelude to a firestorm Image | Mizar Vision

Iran has spent decades excavating its “missile cities.” Satellite images have just revealed that they are a death trap

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For years, Iran has shown the world tunnel videos endless tunnels dug under mountains, with military trucks circulating between missiles lined up as if they were cars in an underground subway. It was understood that many of these facilities extend kilometers underground and are part of one of the military fortification programs. most ambitious in the Middle East. What almost no one knew until now is to what extent this gigantic hidden labyrinth could become a key piece of the current conflict. The cities, but with missiles. Yes, for decades, Iran has excavated an extensive underground base network known as “missile cities”, complexes hidden under mountains and hills intended to protect its enormous ballistic arsenal against air attacks and guarantee the regime’s retaliation capacity even in the event of open war. There are numerous videos Officials released in recent years where we could see long tunnels illuminated by artificial lights, windowless corridors and convoys of trucks loaded with missiles ready to move to the surface, an entire military architecture designed to hide thousands of short and medium range projectiles away from spy satellites and enemy bombers. Some installations even incorporate silos dug into the rock or mechanical systems on rails to move missiles within underground galleries, a perfectly assembled choreography reflecting a strategic project conceived to ensure arsenal survival Iranian in a protracted conflict. The images that reveal the paradox. However, the war has begun to show the unexpected reverse of that strategy. Recent images from space have revealed Smoldering remains of destroyed launchers and missiles near the entrances to several underground complexes, a sign that systems hidden underground are becoming extremely vulnerable at the moment when they must go outside to shoot. It makes sense. American and Israeli surveillance planes, armed drones and fighters They patrol constantly over the areas where these facilities are located, observing the entrances to the tunnels and attacking the launchers as soon as they appear on nearby roads or canyons. In other words, what for years was a system designed to hide mobile weapons It thus becomes a relatively predictable pattern: tunnel entrances, exit roads and deployment areas that can be monitored from the air and destroyed as soon as activity is detected. From strategic refuge to death trap. They remembered in the wall street journal A few hours ago this change has revealed a structural problem in the very concept of missile cities. Underground complexes are very difficult to destroy from the air, but they are also fixed installations whose location is known by Western intelligence services. In practice, this means that much of the arsenal remains stored in specific places while enemy planes continually fly over the airspace, waiting for the moment when the launchers come out to act. Many military analysts summarize the dilemma in a simple way: What was previously a mobile and difficult to locate system is now concentrated in fixed points, which facilitates its surveillance and reduces its capacity for surprise. Commercial satellite images themselves show destroyed launchers As soon as they left the mouths of the tunnels, fires were caused by leaked fuel and access to facilities bombed with heavy ammunition. Missile base north of Tabriz in Iran. The image on the left belongs to February 23, the one on the right from March 1 after the first attacks The air offensive against underground infrastructure. As the first week of war approaches, the military campaign has begun to focus increasingly on these infrastructures. They told Reuters that the first phase of the attacks focused on destroying visible launchers and surface systems capable of firing at Israel or US bases in the region, while the second stage aims straight to the bunkers and buried warehouses where missiles and equipment are stored. Israeli aviation, with American support, has attacked hundreds of positions and has managed to drastically reduce the number of launches, while an almost constant air offensive that hits targets continues. both in Iran and Lebanon during the same missions. The stated objective is to progressively degrade Iran’s ability to launch ballistic missiles and drones until it is completely neutralized. Missile base north of Kermanshah in Iran. The image on the left belongs to February 28, on the right it belongs to March 3 A gigantic arsenal underground. The actual scope of these facilities remains difficult to determine. There are military estimates that place the Iranian arsenal before the war between about 2,500 and up to 6,000 missilesstored in different facilities throughout the country, many of them excavated under mountains or in remote areas of the territory. Despite the attacks, Iran has managed to launch more than 500 missiles against Israel, US bases and targets in the Gulf since the start of the conflict, although many have been intercepted and the pace of salvos has decreased rapidly. That drop suggests that attacks on launchers and storage centers are beginning to erode the country’s ability to respond. The strategic dilemma. The result is a strategic paradox that is just beginning to become visible. Missile cities were designed to protect the core of Iranian military power and ensure its ability to retaliate, but in a scenario where the enemy dominate the air and watch constantly the entrances to these complexes can become choke points for the arsenal itself. Iran has spent decades excavating these underground bases with the intention of making its missiles invisible. But satellite images of the war are showing something very different: that this labyrinth of tunnels, designed as a shelter, can become one of its greatest vulnerabilities when the launchers are forced to surface under the look constant flow of planes, drones and satellites. Image | X, Planet Labs In Xataka | We had seen everything in Ukraine, but this is new: neither drones nor missiles, bulldozers have reached the front In Xataka | You’ve probably never heard of urea. The missiles in Iran are destroying their production, and that will affect your food

your satellite “tug” is ready to fly

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We are used to talking about satellite launches as if that moment marked the end of the journey. The rocket takes off, the cargo reaches orbit and the mission seems accomplished. But that is not always enough: placing a satellite in space is only the beginning of a much more delicate process, that of taking it exactly to the point where it must operate and ensuring that it can fulfill its mission under the expected conditions. In that silent stretch is where new proposals begin to emerge. Among them, a Spanish startup which claims to have its own orbital transport vehicle ready and a first mission planned for 2026. UARX Space. Behind this proposal appears UARX Spacea company based in Nigrán, on the coast of Galicia. Founded in 2020, the company has defended an unusual strategy within the ecosystem: advance during its early years with a low public profile and focus on technological maturity before presenting to the market. That approach raises the idea of ​​coming up with more developed systems. ready to fly. The most recent turning point comes not from a launch, but from a technical validation. In a post published on LinkedIn a few hours agoUARX Space notes that its OSSIE orbital vehicle has completed the environmental qualification campaign, a phase that includes vibration tests, tightness and conditions representative of takeoff. The results, according to the company, confirm compliance with the mission requirements and place the system in a state of readiness for flight. The work of the “tugboat”. The difference between understanding the concept and seeing its real impact is how those capabilities are applied in a specific mission. A vehicle like OSSIE It not only moves satellites from one point to another, but also undertakes maneuvers that determine whether a constellation works as designed or whether a payload reaches the exact orbit it needs to operate. As we say, the system is designed to execute precise injections, modify orbital parameters and coordinate relative positioning between satellites. When will the launch be? With that milestone on the table, the next question is when liftoff could come. From what we have been able to observe in UARX public informationthe first OSSIE mission takes place in 2026 and is limited to the first quarter of the year, with an initial insertion planned into sun-synchronous orbit around 500-600 kilometers. Other data comes to us from a previously published statementwhich indicates that the orbital launch system contracted for this important step will be SpaceX’s Falcon 9. OSSIE will carry twelve loads on its initial flight. One of them will be CORTISa UVigo SpaceLab initiative designed to compare the performance of commercial radiation sensors with proprietary developments and to test a flight heritage camera planned for another mission. The project has passed vibration tests at the company’s facilities before its integration, a necessary step for any cargo that aspires to travel to space. This collaboration between the academic environment and industrial infrastructure offers a more concrete image of the model that the company is trying to build. Refuel in orbit, but later. The scope of the project is not limited to the movement of satellites, but rather points to a different way of operating in space. UARX works together with Dawn Aerospace in the integration of a docking system that, in this first mission, will only have a structural function, but which is part of an architecture designed to allow in-orbit services in the future. Among them appears the possibility of orbital resupply, an idea still in development within the European ecosystem. Images | UARX Space In Xataka | Starlink’s dominance in space begins to move: another company already has permission for a constellation of 4,000 satellites

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