3 minute read - What's in a name? More than you might think. KMI's first spacecraft needed a title that not only symbolized its mission but also paid homage to the myths of old. After much debate, we landed on "Laelaps"—a name rooted in Greek legend. But what does a mythic hound, destined to catch everything it chases, have to do with space?
6 minute read - Want to play football on the moon? Or laser tag in zero gravity? While humanity currently has limited practice with sports in space, it is an interesting thought whether your favorites win or lose at the next game, and something Troy explores in the latest KMI column: Sports in Space.
7 minute read - In today’s column, Troy Morris, KMI Director of Operations, quickly summarizes and simplifies on the question, “how do satellites work.” Hint, it's a lot of hard work, hard work that deserves a chance to continue flying through the completion of their mission. Hard work that deserves a safer, lower-risk, debris-free environment, which is why we keep working on #KeepingSpaceClearForAll.
6 minute read - In light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, many countries and companies have reevaluated their relationship with Russia and their rockets. While international sanctions and armed conflicts are ongoing, the history of human spaceflight continues, at times in awkward proximity to world political events. As Troy Morris discusses in this column, humanity has best succeeded with the shared goal of, “WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND.”
8 minute read - Over an unofficial series of grand perspective columns, Troy Morris, Director of Operations, has yet to tackle a common theme of certain space proponents: the survival of our species. Often referred to as space colonization, this view on survival is a macro view of humanity continuing on, rather than the more practical survival of individuals.
4 minute read - As the calendar gets short, the nights get long, temperatures get low, and decorative lights get placed high, it becomes the holiday season! Already families and friends have many choices to make, with parties for hosting, caroling and going out in the snow; there’ll be scary ghost stories, and tales of the glories… you know, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” With more humans entering and now remaining in orbit than ever before, those classic celebrations are sought in the spacecraft, shuttles, and stations overhead. But space is hard.
3 minute read - Why We Choose to Go to Space: Human Imagination. Whether fantastical fiction, scientific speculation, admirable announcements, or factual mission reporting, the advancing reality of all science, especially space science, plays into and from imagination with ease. It is from an initial foundation of imagination that many technologies are dreamed in science fiction, discussed by interested organizations, pursued by inspired scientists, and made possible through continued development, until the technology enters the world as a banal fact.
5 minute read - Active Debris Removal (ADR) involves many concepts, terms, and technical aspects. These encompass sterile standards of scientific discussion, as well as advantageous assets and deceitful disadvantages. As KMI columns attempt to illuminate on the issues of our industry and relate them to the larger human experience, introspection is necessary at times to ensure a clearer outlook to come, even if it begins as a critical inspection of these technical pieces.
4 minute read - As the least technical among my co-founders, I am often given, and other times take on myself, the opportunity to explain scientific principles or engineering processes in an approachable way. This works in numerous experiences, but in select examples answering things in an “easier” way is the harder task. Paramount among these is a large question, often looming over energetic discussions of space, from the merely interested to those most expert: “Why should we go to space?”
6 minute read - “Space is for everybody. It’s not just for a few people in science or math, or for a select group of astronauts.” Christa McAuliffe, American educator and astronaut aboard the ill-fated Challenger. In her time moving from the front of the classroom to the forefront of scientific endeavor, Ms. McAuliffe demonstrated an eager appetite for all that space could offer. Her spirit has been shared by many in the field, offering insight into how space works, sharing awe-inspiring images of the cosmos, and even opening up the engineered innovations of aerospace to the greater public.
4 minute read - While working on the long mission of preventing massive orbital disasters, with components moving at 7,500 m/s, considering time is a common occurrence. There are a few things in life that bring the human experience to move at incredible speeds, yet leave us feeling incredibly still. The list of these unique experiences may be longer than will be discussed here, but three of the most different examples are of varying frequency in an average lifetime: falling in love, falling from this mortal coil, and free-falling through the atmosphere (not even at re-entry speeds).
4 minute read - Just as the success over frozen frontiers, unexplored jungles, endless seas, and even the famous imagery of the American West relied on hard people doing hard work, many forget the steps and support that made those areas of old exploration into the tourist destinations of today. From outposts and supply lines to small-town squares and starting-out shops, the areas under human expansion have been forged and founded in deliberate acts and minor decisions echoing over eons. Each piece of the puzzle is seemingly insignificant and the tasks to finalization insurmountable, yet through a shared societal dream, or singular ideals, humankind pushed forth into all areas listed at the beginning of this paragraph.
3 minute read - Most people share in the imagery of many movies and stories by staring off into space. Whether the “space” around them is the endless nighttime setting of stars, or the watching of clouds coasting across a blue sky, all can recall a time spent in any of these pastimes observing “space”. In this human-centered experience, our society takes these views from our own perspective, which is why we often talk about outer space as “up there” or looking “up” into space. But is that all?
