News Summary

• HOTSAT-1's images thrilled scientists, but now the craft's innovative camera is dead.The world's most advanced space-based thermometer thrilled scientists when it first came online.The HOTSAT-1 satellite's first images, released in early October, revealed in unprecedented detail how temperatures change on Earth's surface..
• And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected] space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!Tereza is a London-based science and technology journalist, aspiring fiction writer and amateur gymnast..
• Capable of resolving details as small as 11 feet (3.5 m), HOTSAT-1's innovative camera allowed scientists to visualize the thermal effects of city parking lots on surrounding buildings or the cooling influence of harbors and maritime ports..
• But now, only six months after its launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the experimental spacecraft is out of order.SatVu, HOTSAT-1's maker and operator, announced on Friday, Dec. 15, that the spacecraft suffered an "anomaly, which is expected to impact ongoing operations..
• The satellite's camera was so sensitive it could even track trains from space from their thermal signatures..
• The camera also provided insights into the behavior of wildfires and, in one particularly stunning sequence, captured the thermal footprint of a train travelling on a main rail line in Chicago..