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Many of us got to experience some pretty fun things while in college. From travels abroad to sports and let’s be honest, some good old-fashioned college partying. But, we have yet to run across any college students who get the rare privilege of crashing a NASA satellite. University of Colorado at Boulder undergraduates were lucky to have the opportunity to crash (come on now – how cool is that?) the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite, or ICESat, in the Arctic. The satellite had been in orbit for seven years – and UC Boulder students have been controlling the satellite for that time period. Why did they crash the satellite? The satellite had outlasted its targeted design life, before its primary sensor – a laser device intended for measuring ice thickness, forest cover – failed last year. So, yes, while college can often include learning how to do keg stands, it can also present an incredible opportunity like this for students. Go U.C. Boulder.

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Once again, the editorial staff of got geoint? is faced with a dearth of news GEOINT-related news to share – and thus the new, and emerging “Wednesday News Round Up” post. They say that celebrities can sell anything and and this certainly rings true in today’s post — with news of Google collaborating with indie super group Arcade Fire (pictured) and veteran actress Sigourney Weaver. In addition, we have some news from DigitalGlobe and more. And to re-hash our ever-popular Monday morning expression: fire up that second cup of coffee and read on.

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The scaling back of the US military mission in Iraq means Washington’s spies will have fewer “eyes and ears on the ground” in the country, a senior intelligence official said Tuesday. US military units operate with their own intelligence resources, including translators and officers assigned from spy agencies such as the National Security Agency and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. But the drawdown of US forces to less than 50,000 troops will curtail the reach of US intelligence services, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters. Read the full AFP story here.

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We often take for granted the fact that most of our cars have a built in GPS systems, and it is soo pervasive that even grandma knows how to use one. GPS gets us where we need to go, and it removes the most common road trip challenges: getting lost. So, we were a bit stumped when we came across this NY Times story about how American Airlines just NOW followed a satellite-based approach to Bradley International Airport near Hartford last week. According to the article, it was a momentous occasion, at least according to the pilot. Wouldn’t one assume that airlines would be using one of the most ubiquitous technologies available? Yes, rhetorical question. The reason for the delay is that the American air traffic infrastructure is so well established, and change is well, hard. Check out the full NY Times story here.

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