The Martinek NameSpace & Satellites
For anyone who lives in the age of satellites: watch the International Space Station move in real time, find out what you'd weigh on Mars, and fall into the best space trackers on the web.
🛰️ Live: where is the ISS right now?
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Live data: wheretheiss.at API, refreshed every 5 seconds. Map outline: Natural Earth (public domain) via the world-atlas package.
Your weight on Mars
Mars's surface gravity is about 3.72 m/s², versus 9.81 m/s² on Earth (about 38%).
Source: Wikipedia: Mars (surface gravity 3.72076 m/s²).
Mars, briefly (from NASA)
- The Romans named it for their god of war because its reddish colour was reminiscent of blood.
- It is about half the size of Earth (radius 3,390 km).
- It rotates once every 24.6 hours, very close to an Earth day.
Source: NASA Science: Mars Facts
Mars landmarks
Olympus Mons: Olympus Mons is a large shield volcano on Mars. As measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), it is 21.287 kilometres (69,840 ft) high, about 2.5 times the elevation of Mount Everest above sea level.
Valles Marineris: Valles Marineris is a system of canyons that runs along the Martian surface east of the Tharsis region.
Trackers, maps & sky tools
Satellite & space rabbit holes
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1, often referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program.
Vanguard 1
Vanguard 1 is an American satellite that was the fourth artificial Earth-orbiting satellite to be successfully launched, following Sputnik 1, Sputnik 2, and Explorer 1. It was launched 17 March 1958.
Starlink
Starlink Services, LLC is a telecommunications subsidiary of the American spaceflight company SpaceX, providing broadband Internet service in approximately 160 countries and territories. It also aims to provide global mobile broadband.
Iridium satellite constellation
The Iridium satellite constellation provides L band voice and data information coverage to satellite phones, satellite messenger communication devices and integrated transceivers. Iridium Communications owns and operates the constellation, additionally selling equipment and access to its services.
Kessler syndrome
The Kessler syndrome, also known as the Kessler effect, collisional cascading, or ablation cascade, is a scenario proposed by NASA scientists Donald J. Kessler and Burton G.
Voyager 1
Voyager 1 is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of the Voyager program, to study the outer Solar System and the interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. It was launched 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2.
Pioneer plaque
The Pioneer plaques are a pair of gold-anodized aluminium plaques that were placed on board the 1972 Pioneer 10 and 1973 Pioneer 11 spacecraft, featuring a pictorial message, in case either Pioneer 10 or 11 is intercepted by intelligent extraterrestrial life. The plaques show the nude figures of a human male and female along with several symbols that are designed to provide information about the origin of the spacecraft.
Overview effect
The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from space. Researchers have characterized the effect as "a state of awe with self-transcendent qualities, precipitated by a particularly striking visual stimulus".
Lunar Laser Ranging experiments
Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR) is the practice of measuring the distance between the surfaces of the Earth and the Moon using laser ranging. The distance can be calculated from the round-trip time of laser light pulses, travelling at the speed of light, which are reflected back to Earth by the Moon's surface or by one of several retroreflectors installed on the Moon.
Boötes Void
The Boötes Void is a roughly spherical region of space in the vicinity of the constellation Boötes. It contains just 60 galaxies, which is significantly fewer than the approximately 2,000 galaxies expected for an area of comparable size.