Space

WASHINGTON — Axiom Space hopes to soon finalize its first commercial mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for late 2021, as it continues development of a commercial module for the station. During a panel discussion at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) Oct. 13, Michael Suffredini, president and chief executive of Axiom Space, said his

SAN FRANCISCO — Two years after acquiring mobile satellite services provider Thuraya Telecommunications, Emerati fleet operator Yahsat is prepared to begin updating its L-band fleet. In August, Yahsat announced a contract with Airbus Defence and Space for Thuraya-4 NGS that includes an option for a second identical satellite, Thuraya-5 NGS. Yahsat plans to spend approximately

The recent streak of launch scrubs proves that systems are working like they should, said Col. Douglas Pentecost. WASHINGTON — A streak of United Launch Alliance and SpaceX launch scrubs has frustrated rocket company executives and space aficionados. But Space Force launch managers are not discouraged, and in fact see scrubs as proof that systems

WASHINGTON — Small launch vehicle developer ABL Space Systems announced Oct. 22 that it has started a series of static-fire tests of the upper stage of its vehicle, putting the company on track for a first launch in 2021. The company said it performed integrated stage testing of the upper stage of its RS1 vehicle

SAN FRANCISCO — Airbus Ventures invested 2.5 million Singapore dollars ($1.85 million) in Zero-Error Systems (ZES), a Singapore startup developing radiation-hardened integrated circuits. With the funding, ZES will “scale its operations, and work with international customers to deploy its products into space, as well as explore new applications, including self-driving vehicles with high levels of

Digital engineering is commonplace in many industries but is unfamiliar to Pentagon procurement organizations. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force over the next few years will be testing a new approach to develop military space hardware.  Under this vision, military buyers and contractors will work collaboratively in virtual cloud networks. Each piece of equipment will

VALLETTA, Malta — The Swedish government has committed to investing 90 million krona ($10.2 million) over the next three years to upgrade the Esrange Space Center to host small satellite launches starting in 2022. This fresh round of funding comes just two years after the government invested 60 million krona to outfit the suborbital rocket

The Space Operations Command, or SpOC, will be led by Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force on Oct. 21 is standing up its first field command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.  The Space Operations Command, or SpOC, will be led by Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting. He will officially assume command

WASHINGTON — NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft briefly touched down on the surface of the asteroid Bennu Oct. 20, but it may be several days before project scientists know how much material the probe collected for return to Earth. A sampling arm extended from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft touched down in a crater called Nightingale on the surface

SpaceX will use Microsoft Azure’s orbital emulator — a digital environment that allows the user to visualize an entire satellite architecture, test satellite designs and artificial intelligence algorithms.  WASHINGTON — SpaceX earlier this month won a $149 million contract from the Defense Department’s Space Development Agency to build four satellites to detect and track ballistic and

“We’re discussing with the Air Force the path forward for certification,” said Megan Mitchell, Blue Origin’s director of government and legislative affairs.  WASHINGTON — The Air Force in August selected United Launch Alliance and SpaceX as its launch providers for the next five years. Blue Origin competed for the job but lost and, as a

HELSINKI — Chinese large state-owned enterprise CASIC laid out a new set of commercial space plans for the next five years at a conference Monday. The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. (CASIC) outlined plans for developing launch services, satellite constellations and a reusable space plane at the 6th China International Commercial Aerospace Forum, which

WASHINGTON — A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched another set of Starlink satellites Oct. 18 as the investigation into another Falcon 9 launch abort more than two weeks ago continues. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 8:25 a.m. Eastern. The rocket’s upper stage deployed the payload of

WASHINGTON — NASA has awarded more than $400 million in contracts to both demonstrate technologies needed for future lunar exploration and to send an ice-drilling payload to the south pole of the moon. NASA announced Oct. 16 that it awarded a task order worth $47 million to Intuitive Machines, one of 14 companies in the

SAN FRANCISCO – Orbital Sidekick is speeding up its campaign to build and launch a constellation of six hyperspectral imaging satellites thanks to a $16 million U.S. government contract announced Oct. 15. The government funding, which Orbital Sidekick matched with private investment, comes from the U.S. Air Force commercial investment group AFVentures’s Strategic Financing program

SAN FRANCISCO — AAC Clyde Space announced plans Oct. 15 to acquire SpaceQuest, a satellite technology developer based in Fairfax, Virginia, for $8.4 million, pending the approval of shareholders and the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Luis Gomes, AAC Clyde Space CEO, and Craig Clark, AAC Clyde Space chief strategy officer,

One of the most anticipated announcements is the official name of Space Force members WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force plans to make “a lot of announcements” during the month of December as the service approaches its one-year anniversary, Deputy Chief of Space Operations Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman said Oct. 16. “We’re going to

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration released Oct. 15 the final version of updated commercial launch and reentry regulations, although those in industry say the regulatory reform process is far from over. The FAA released the final version of its Streamlined Launch and Reentry Licensing Requirements, or SLR2, regulations on its website, with formal publication

With less than a month to go in this election cycle, the public is awash in big issues, COVID and healthcare to national defense and economic recovery.  Lest we forget, an issue also on the ballot is space – with national unity, security, and economic implications in tow. America’s future is intimately tied to our

WASHINGTON — NASA is planning a hotfire test of the core stage of the Space Launch System in the middle of November, a schedule it says keeps it on track for its first launch late next year. During an Oct. 13 media teleconference, officials with NASA, Boeing and Aerojet Rocketdyne said they are making good

WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency has awarded contracts for work on elements of its moon and Mars exploration program, ranging from modules for the lunar Gateway to a mission to return Mars samples to Earth. ESA’s announcement of the contracts was tied to an Oct. 14 session of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), where

WASHINGTON — NASA has selected its first human-tended commercial suborbital research payload, clearing the way for the biggest advocate of such research to fly on a future Virgin Galactic mission. NASA announced Oct. 14 it selected a proposed experiment by the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) as part of its Flight Opportunities program for testing technologies

Telesat will adapt two Airbus Arrow spacecraft for the Blackjack program WASHINGTON — Telesat announced Oct. 14 it has won a $18.3 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to produce two satellite buses for the Blackjack low-Earth orbit constellation. The two satellites will be a “highly modified version” of the Airbus Arrow

The $2 million contract is to “assess the feasibility and long term viability of a ‘weather data as a service business model.” WASHINGTON — SpaceX is looking at ways it could provide weather data to the U.S. military. The company is working under a $2 million six-month study contract from the U.S. Space Force’s Space

Bruno has pitched the idea of a “strategic propellant reserve” to the National Space Council WASHINGTON — The idea that rocket propellants could be made from lunar ice is not new. But the U.S. government should now consider doing that at scale in order to stimulate the space economy and enable human life on the

WASHINGTON — SpaceX, Hughes Network Systems and Viasat are eligible to compete for a share of the $20.4 billion in broadband subsidies the FCC plans to dole out under the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) starting later this month. The Federal Communications Commission on Oct. 13 released a list  of  “qualified bidders” for the RDOF

SAN FRANCISCO — Astroscale Holdings Inc. raised $51 million in a Series E investment round, bringing total funding for the Tokyo-based orbital debris removal startup to $191 million. With the latest investment, Astroscale becomes “the most funded on-orbit services and logistics company globally and most funded space venture in Japan,” Nobu Okada, Astroscale founder and

WASHINGTON — The head of Russia’s space agency said that the lunar Gateway, part of NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration program, is too “U.S.-centric” for it to participate in, even though the Gateway leverages the existing International Space Station partnership. During a panel featuring the heads of seven space agencies at the International Astronautical Congress Oct.

Astrobiologist David Grinspoon is a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and an expert on surface-atmospheric interactions on terrestrial planets, such as Venus. Credit: Courtesy of David Grinspoon Over the years, space missions to hellish Venus have been few and far between. But the idea of intensely studying that nearby cloud-veiled globe has just

COMPANY PROFILE: ENPULSION Today we present ENPULSION, an Austrian company developing cutting edge thruster solutions for small and medium satellites. Founded in 2016, it has delivered more than 130 thrusters and 50 of them are already propelling satellites of various size in space. How did the company achieve that? Milestones: 2017 – ENPULSION is founded.

HELSINKI — Chinese Earth observation Gaofen-13 is on its way to a geostationary orbit after successful launch on a Long March 3B from Xichang Oct. 11.  The Long March 3B lifted off from Xichang, southwest China at 12:57 p.m. Eastern. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) confirmed launch success just over an hour

WASHINGTON — NASA is delaying the launch of the first operational SpaceX commercial crew mission to the first half of November to provide more time to review a problem during a recent Falcon 9 launch attempt. NASA announced Oct. 10 the Crew-1 mission, which was scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 in the early

WASHINGTON — The merger of in-space transportation company Momentus with a special-purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC) could encourage other space startups seeking large amounts of capital to follow its lead. Momentus announced Oct. 7 it would merge with Stable Road Acquisition Corp., a SPAC created by venture fund Stable Road Capital. The deal will value Momentus

How NASA’s InVEST program is yielding big dividends for future Earth-observing missions For the last several years at the Small Satellite Conference, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has held a “Small Satellite Mission of the Year” competition. An AIAA committee gathers nominations for smallsats that have launched in the last year and

SAN FRANCISCO — GHGSat, the Canadian firm preparing to launch a constellation of methane-monitoring satellites, announced Oct. 8 that the sensor on its Iris satellite launched in early September detects methane emissions five times as well as Claire, its predecessor.  GHGSat tested the Iris sensor by flying the satellite over a controlled methane release in

SAN FRANCISCO – Exolaunch signed an agreement to secure rides for dozens of small satellites on SpaceX rideshare missions scheduled to launch later this year and in 2021. Under the agreement announced Oct. 8, Germany’s Exolaunch plans to integrate 30 U.S. and European cubesats and microsatellites on Falcon 9 rideshare flights to sun-synchronous orbit scheduled

WASHINGTON — Despite dire predictions just six months ago, space companies in general, and startups in particular, have survived the pandemic and its economic fallout in relatively good shape. In sessions at the three-day Satellite Innovation 2020 conference that concluded Oct. 8, executives and other industry observers concluded that the industry fared better than expected

Maj. Gen. Kim Crider said space “will become the next front of the cyber conflict” WASHINGTON — As many as 1,000 enlisted personnel and 130 officers currently in Air Force cyber security jobs will be asked to join the U.S. Space Force, a senior official said Oct. 8. The selected airmen from cyber security career

VALLETTA, Malta — A solid rocket booster designed for Europe’s next-generation Ariane 6 and Vega C launch vehicles completed a third and final static fire test Oct 7. Developed by an ArianeGroup and Avio joint venture called Europropulsion, the P120C is a multipurpose solid rocket booster designed to be used as the first stage of

Slingshot received a $1 million Small Business Innovation Research contract and an additional $1 million from ATX Venture Partners WASHINGTON — Space startup Slingshot Aerospace announced Oct. 8 it has won a U.S. Space Force contract to develop an immersive simulation of the orbital environment. Military students will use the tool to learn the mechanics

WASHINGTON — A startup is using an initial round of funding to build up tools it believes will provide more accurate notifications of potential collisions for satellite operators. Kayhan Space, based in Boulder, Colorado, announced Oct. 6 it closed a $600,000 “pre-seed” round, led by an Atlanta-based venture capital firm, Overline. Other participants in the

Gen. Stephen Lyons: “Think about moving the equivalent of a C-17 payload anywhere on the globe in less than an hour.” WASHINGTON — The U.S. military command that oversees logistics operations has signed an agreement with SpaceX and XArc to study the use of space launch vehicles to transport supplies in an emergency. Army Gen.

WASHINGTON — The chair of the House space subcommittee says NASA has still not convinced her that the agency has a viable plan to return humans to the moon by 2024. Speaking at a Wilson Center event Oct. 6 about the geopolitics of space, Rep. Kendra Horn (D-Okla.) said she was waiting to see a

SAN FRANCISCO – Rather than pushing the state-of-the art, Boeing, Maxar Technologies and Northrop Grumman are emphasizing reliability in satellites they are manufacturing to help Intelsat and SES clear C-band spectrum, according to speakers at the Satellite Innovation 2020 conference. “Schedule is king,” said Jordan Bletscher, Boeing Space Launch chief strategist. “We want to get

SAN FRANCISCO – Tracking and avoiding the growing debris field in low Earth orbit was clearly on the minds of speakers on the first day of the Satellite Innovation 2020 conference. “Today, unfortunately, there is a lot of debris up there,” said Tony Gingiss, OneWeb Satellites CEO. “We have to be able to track it

WASHINGTON — The United Arab Emirates plans to send a small rover to the moon in 2024, the latest step in the country’s growing space ambitions. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, vice president and ruler of Dubai, formally announced the Emirates Lunar Mission Sept. 29. That mission will place a small rover on the moon carrying

The United States must work with long-time Arctic partners to increase vigilance in this increasingly vital region. China has published an Arctic strategy making clear the government’s desire to control infrastructure along Arctic routes.   Geographically, the terrestrial Arctic region consists of the area north of the Arctic Circle, including the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas and

SAN FRANCISCO – Colorado startup ExoTerra Resources announced plans Oct. 5 to develop a solar electric upper stage to boost small satellites traveling on Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne beyond low Earth orbit. With ExoTerra’s Solar Electric Propulsion Upper Stage, LauncherOne customers could reach destinations including geostationary orbit, trans-lunar injection orbit, Earth-Moon Lagrange points and low lunar