Age of Saturation
1995+
| Year | Event | Description | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962-2015+ | Telesat Telstar Series | Historic communications satellite series. Original Telstar 1 (1962) was first active communications satellite. Modern Telstar fleet includes Telstar 11N, 12 VANTAGE, 14R, 18 VANTAGE, 19 VANTAGE providing C-, Ku-, Ka-band services globally. | ||||||||||||||
| 1994 | DirecTV Launch | Direct broadcast satellite television service launched in the United States. | ||||||||||||||
| 1995-1998 | World Anomalies | To see these events view the World Anomalies 1995-1998 | ||||||||||||||
| 1996 | DISH Network Launch | DISH Network begins direct broadcast satellite television service. | ||||||||||||||
| 1998 | Iridium Constellation | Iridium satellite constellation becomes operational with 66 satellites providing global mobile communications. | ||||||||||||||
| 1998 | Globalstar Constellation | Globalstar satellite constellation becomes operational with initial 48 LEO satellites at 1,414 km altitude providing global mobile communications. Second-generation constellation of 24-32 satellites launched 2010-2013. | ||||||||||||||
| 1999-2012 | Telesat Nimiq Fleet | Canadian direct broadcast satellite fleet. Nimiq 1-6 geostationary satellites launched 1999-2012 providing DTH television service across Canada. Operated by Telesat for Bell TV and other providers. | ||||||||||||||
| 2000 | Thuraya-1 | First UAE mobile satellite with 12.25-meter antenna for L-band communications. Fleet eventually grew to 3-4 geostationary satellites serving Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Asia. | ||||||||||||||
| 2003 | European Heat Wave |
70,000+ deaths, hottest summer in 500+ years. Paris hit 104°F (40°C), London exceeded 100°F for first time on record. Glaciers lost 10% of mass in single summer.
Very Exceptional heat wave. |
||||||||||||||
| 2005 | Hurricane Katrina | Costliest natural disaster in US history at time ($125+ billion). Catastrophic infrastructure failure, New Orleans flooded. | ||||||||||||||
| 2005 | Amazon Drought |
"Once in a century" drought. Severe impacts on Amazon Basin.
Note: This 2010 video also describes the 2005 drought. NASA Earth Observatory: Amazon stands up to 2005 drought AMS Journal of Climate: 2005 Amazon Drought Analysis The Guardian: Amazon drought October 2005 Due to severe hurricane season off the US "Air is descending which prevents the formation of clouds" "Cold fronts that usually come from the South of Brazil at this time of the year had not been arriving, they've been heading straight out into the ocean, instead of heading North toward Amazon" "It's the worst it's been in 60 YEARS" |
||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Syria Drought Begins | Severe multi-year drought begins, eventually becoming the WORST IN 900 YEARS. Rural agricultural collapse forced 1.5 million people to migrate from countryside to cities. Mass internal displacement destabilized regions and contributed to social unrest that would emerge in subsequent years. | ||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Velella Velella Mass Stranding NZ |
First ever mass stranding of Velella velella (by-the-wind sailor jellyfish) in New Zealand. Part of larger West Coast event. Previous occurrence was 1992 in Ireland. Unprecedented.
ODT: Mass Greymouth beach stranding |
||||||||||||||
| 2007 | WGS (Wideband Global SATCOM) | US military wideband satellite communications system becomes operational. Primary system for drone command and control, each satellite provides 2.4 Gbps downlink capacity. | ||||||||||||||
| 2007 | Apple iPhone Debuts |
Additional video Additional video |
||||||||||||||
| 2009-2012 | Global Digital TV Transition |
Massive worldwide transition from analog to digital television broadcasting. Digital broadcasts use more power than analog and predominantly transmit from ground-based towers (some satellite). Freed UHF spectrum (700MHz band) auctioned for 4G LTE development.
Key transitions: USA: June 12, 2009 (analog shutdown) Germany: Completed November 2008 Europe: EU recommended completion by January 1, 2012 UK: Completed October 2012 Many other countries transitioned 2009-2012 YouTube Playlist: Digital TV Transition - Part 1 YouTube Playlist: Digital TV Transition - Part 2 Wikipedia: Digital television transition |
||||||||||||||
| 2008+ | Meteors! |
Meteors become more and more visible as our magnetosphere weakens due to massive microwave radiation increase. See also Chelyabinsk 2013?
IMO Fireball Statistics |
||||||||||||||
| 2009 | 4G LTE Deployment | 4G LTE networks begin deployment globally, providing significantly higher data speeds than 3G. | ||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Global Coral Bleaching #2 | This is the Second major global coral bleaching event. They are happening faster. The events fit perfectly in lockstep with the rapid increase of microwave radiation in our atmosphere. Our weakened magnetosphere is affecting all corals. A slow measured rise in CO2 would not cause this. | ||||||||||||||
| 2010 | AEHF (Advanced Extremely High Frequency) | US military protected communications satellite system for National Command Authority and UAV operations. Provides highly secure, encrypted communications with 10-12x capacity of predecessor Milstar II. | ||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Venezuela Drought |
JANUARY 2010. Severe drought impacts Venezuela. Part of the broader South American drought-flood pattern.
Desdemona Despair: Venezuela drought reveals long-term pattern Spokesman: Drought pushes Venezuela close to power crisis |
||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Peru Flooding - Machu Picchu |
FEBRUARY 2010. HEAVIEST RAINS IN 15 YEARS. UNPRECEDENTED stranding of 4,000 tourists.
Mudslides destroyed railway line - the only land access to Machu Picchu. Around 20 deaths, 2,000 homes destroyed. Helicopter evacuations required. Occurred while western Amazon experienced severe drought. NASA Earth Observatory: Flooding near Machu Picchu |
||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Ecuador Flooding |
APRIL 2010. Severe flooding affected Ecuador along with Peru and Colombia flooding, while Amazon basin experienced record drought.
ReliefWeb: Ecuador floods |
||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Rio de Janeiro Landslides |
APRIL 2010. HEAVIEST RAIN IN DECADES
While Rio experienced unprecedented rainfall and landslides, the Brazilian Amazon experienced severe drought - part of the worst Amazon Basin drought on record affecting 57% of Amazonia. BBC: Rio landslides Wikipedia: 2010 Northeastern Brazil floods (June 2010) Stabroek News: Severe flood in upper Demerara, Guyana (July 2010) |
||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Amazon Basin Drought |
JULY-SEPTEMBER 2010. Worst drought on record. 57% of Amazon Basin affected (Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela). Most severe in southern/southwestern Amazon. Negro River lowest level in 109 years.
Occurred with unprecedented flooding in Medellín and Rio de Janeiro - never reported as connected events. Ignore the CO2 / carbon dioxide commentary! NASA Earth Observatory: 2010 drought in the Amazon forest Mongabay: NASA image reveals worst drought on record EarthSky: Amazon River satellite image AGU: Persistent effects of severe drought on Amazonian forest canopy Amazon Moisture Sources: The Atlantic Ocean provides ~64% of moisture entering from the eastern border and ~34% from the northern border (Atlantic/Caribbean). The Andes block Pacific moisture. Additionally, 25-35% of Amazon rainfall comes from internal moisture recycling - water that evapotranspires from the forest itself and falls again as rain deeper in the basin. This recycling percentage describes reprocessing of Atlantic-origin moisture, not additional external input. |
||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Russian Heat Wave / Wildfires |
Hottest summer in at least 1,000 years for Russia. Moscow hit 100°F+ for first time in 130 years of records. 500+ peat/forest fires, smoke blanketed entire region. 55,000+ excess deaths.
|
||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Mass Animal Deaths Accelerate |
Widespread reports of mass die-offs across multiple species and locations globally. Beebe, Arkansas incident was notable first story. Birds, fish, whales, dolphins, and other species affected.
[Links to comprehensive lists to be added] |
||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Medellin, Colombia Landslide |
DECEMBER 2010. HEAVIEST RAIN IN DECADES - All of Colombia affected.
While Medellin experienced unprecedented rainfall and landslides, the Colombian Amazon experienced severe drought - part of the worst Amazon Basin drought on record affecting 57% of Amazonia. NBC News: Colombia landslide AGU Landslide Blog: Initial assessment of Bello landslide disaster Wikipedia: 2010 Colombian rainy season (November 2010+) NY Post: Deadly floods hit Venezuela |
||||||||||||||
| 2011 | Yahsat Al Yah 1 | First UAE sovereign communications satellite launched. Yahsat operates fleet of 5 geostationary satellites (Al Yah 1, Al Yah 2, Al Yah 3, plus Thuraya-2 and Thuraya-3) covering 150+ countries. | ||||||||||||||
| 2011 | ViaSat-1 | Large geostationary Ka-band (27-40 GHz) satellite with 140 Gbit/s capacity. World's highest capacity communications satellite at time of launch. | ||||||||||||||
| 2012 | MUOS (Mobile User Objective System) | US Navy narrowband military satellite system begins deployment. Uses 3G cellular-like technology in UHF band, single satellite provides 4x capacity of entire legacy UFO system. | ||||||||||||||
| 2012 | Superstorm Sandy | Largest Atlantic hurricane on record by diameter (1,100 miles). Unprecedented track - hard left turn into New Jersey. Combined with nor'easter, created "Frankenstorm". | ||||||||||||||
| 2013 | O3b MEO Constellation |
SES's first-generation Medium Earth Orbit constellation at 8,000 km altitude. Fleet of 20 Ka-band (27-40 GHz) satellites providing fiber-like connectivity with low latency. Operational since 2014.
IRONY: All the efficiency gains end up being wiped out by "natural" disasters and the work needed to protect from them in the future, if that is even possible. Visit the O3B Networks channel to see many more short-sighted videos. Ignorance is bliss, until it isn't! |
||||||||||||||
| 2015 | Global Coral Bleaching #3 | This is the Third major global coral bleaching event. They are happening faster. The events fit perfectly in lockstep with the rapid increase of microwave radiation in our atmosphere. Our weakened magnetosphere is affecting all corals. A slow measured rise in CO2 would not cause this. | ||||||||||||||
| 2015 | South America Flooding |
Worst flooding in 50 years. NOT predicted by the simplistic label of El Niño.
Preceded the 2015-2016 Amazon drought. Flooding occurred primarily south of Amazon basin (Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, southern Brazil), not directly east. Over 150,000 evacuated. Today Online: Five dead, 150,000 evacuated in Latin America floods NPR: Floods in Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay displace tens of thousands Watchers: Worst flooding in the last 50 years NASA: Paraguay's deadly flooding rainfall measured Wikipedia: 2016 São Paulo flood and mudslide |
||||||||||||||
| 2016 | Venezuela Drought |
Guri Dam water levels critically low. Severe drought continues affecting Venezuela's hydroelectric power generation. Electricity rationing threatens to return.
UPI: Guri dam drought - electricity rationing may return VOA News: Venezuela awaits rain at crucial Guri Dam A discussion with ChatGPT: Ongoing persistent drought leads to mass migration of Venezuelans to Colombia |
||||||||||||||
| 2016 | California Dead Trees |
Over 100 million dead trees documented in California. Result of prolonged drought stress, bark beetle infestation, and heat. Represents catastrophic forest die-off unprecedented in modern times.
USDA: 100 million dead trees in California Denver Post: Dead trees and fire crew tactics |
||||||||||||||
| 2017 | ViaSat-2 |
Large geostationary Ka-band (27-40 GHz) satellite with 300 Gbit/s capacity. Boeing 702 bus platform.
|
||||||||||||||
| 2018 | 5G testing China |
5G testing begins in numerous Chinese cities, including Wuhan.
More text to be added later. |
||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Starlink Deployment Begins | SpaceX begins deploying Starlink mega-constellation of thousands of low Earth orbit satellites for global internet coverage. | ||||||||||||||
| 2019 | OneWeb Launches Begin |
OneWeb begins launching its LEO satellite constellation for global broadband internet service.
|
||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Pig Cull China - Swine Fever |
Up to 300 million dead pigs.
CNN: China's pork crisis [More text / photos to be added] |
||||||||||||||
| 2020 | Sierra Nevada, CA Fires |
Unprecedented wildfire season. 2020 and 2021 showed dramatic acceleration - over 1.1 million acres burned each year, vastly exceeding any previous year since 1920. Historical average ~100,000-200,000 acres.
|
||||||||||||||
| 2020 | COVID / Wuhan Flu |
Wuhan is the 5G capital of China.
Will add more analysis soon. |
||||||||||||||
| 2024 | Guowang (China) |
China's mega-constellation development accelerates. Planned for 13,000+ satellites as Chinese equivalent to Starlink. First launches demonstrate rapid deployment capability.
Ars Technica: China's military megaconstellation lead SpaceNews: Long March 8A Guowang launch Joshua Universe: Guowang key launch insights Space.com: China's 13,000 satellite broadband constellation |
||||||||||||||
| 2020 | 1st COVID Death in All of the Americas |
Kirkland, WA!! - First capital of 1G+ cellular-mobile phones (1980s beginning) due to the worldwide market leader and pioneer - McCaw Cellular (Now AT&T Wireless). Home of Bluetooth.com as well.
Amazon readies Kirkland factory to build Kuiper satellites Amazon Kuiper satellite facility in Kirkland Kirkland satellite production plant |
||||||||||||||
| 2021 | Amazon Forest Flooding |
Record flooding expected in Amazon basin. Represents the flip side of the drought-flood cycle affecting the rainforest.
Note: People keep mentioning deforestation. While that does play a role, it is not the principal vector of drought-flood cycle. That's microwave radiation aka wireless technology addiction! |
||||||||||||||
| 2021 | Texas Deep Freeze | Cascading infrastructure failure across entire state. Temperatures 40-50°F below normal. Power grid collapse, 200+ deaths. "Once in 100+ year" event. | ||||||||||||||
| 2022 | O3b mPOWER Constellation |
SES's second-generation MEO constellation at 8,063 km altitude. Planned 13 high-throughput satellites, with 10 launched as of 2025. Each satellite delivers 1+ Terabit capacity with software-defined flexible beams.
SES: O3b mPOWER Wikipedia: O3b mPOWER
|
||||||||||||||
| 2022 | SpaceX Starshield | Military variant of Starlink infrastructure. Secured government contracts for command & control, reconnaissance, and strategic communications. Represents militarization of LEO broadband constellation. | ||||||||||||||
| 2023 | Global Coral Bleaching #4 | This is the Fourth major global coral bleaching event. They are happening faster. The events fit perfectly in lockstep with the rapid increase of microwave radiation in our atmosphere. Our weakened magnetosphere is affecting all corals. A slow measured rise in CO2 would not cause this. | ||||||||||||||
| 2023 | Amazon Drought |
Severe drought returns to Amazon basin. Part of the recurring drought-flood cycle pattern synchronized with RF infrastructure expansion.
|
||||||||||||||
| 2023 | ViaSat-3 | Three massive geostationary Ka-band (27-40 GHz) satellites, each 6 metric tons with 25+ kW power and 144-foot wingspan. Each designed for 1+ Terabit/second capacity. F1 launched 2023 (partially functional), F2 and F3 scheduled 2025-2026. | ||||||||||||||
| TBD | Northern Lights | Northern Lights become visible at lower and lower latitudes more frequently. | ||||||||||||||
| TBD | USA - Hail Insurance Claims Increase | Significant increase in hail insurance claims documented. From 2016-2018: 2.89 million claims. Article sent before 2020 - source to be located. | ||||||||||||||
| 2024 | Amazon Drought |
Severe drought in Amazon interior despite elevated RF infrastructure deployment. Extreme water stress across the rainforest basin.
|
||||||||||||||
| 2024 | Brazil Floods |
MAY 2024. Same pattern as in earlier Amazon rainforest drought years. Excess rain & flooding on coasts, drought in the interior (Amazon).
BBC: Brazil floods May 2024 Wikipedia: 2024 Rio Grande do Sul floods |
||||||||||||||
| 2025 | Amazon Kuiper | Amazon's LEO mega-constellation for global broadband. Several successful launches completed as of 2025, though service is not yet active. | ||||||||||||||
| Various | Russian Military SATCOM | Russian military satellite communications systems including Meridian, Blagovest, and other constellations. | ||||||||||||||
| 2024 | Qianfan (China) |
Chinese broadband LEO constellation. Already launching. Part of China's strategic push for satellite internet independence and global coverage.
Wikipedia: Qianfan |
||||||||||||||
| TBD | EU Iris2 | European Union's strategic autonomous space program. LEO constellation for European communications independence and strategic autonomy. | ||||||||||||||
| TBD | Taiwan Satellite Constellation | Taiwan Space Agency's LEO constellation development for independent communications and Earth observation capabilities. | ||||||||||||||
| TBD | Russia Sfera (Sphere) | Russian LEO constellation program. Strategic alternative to Western-dominated satellite communications infrastructure. |