Space

Chinese Mars rover makes it down to surface after months of preparation in orbit. HELSINKI — China succeeded with its first planetary landing attempt Friday, safely setting down the solar powered Zhurong rover on the surface of Mars. The 240-kilogram Zhurong rover touched down on the dunes of southern Utopia Planitia just after 7:00 p.m.

TAMPA, Fla. — Telesat could start a spectrum auction to help fund its $5 billion Lightspeed low Earth orbit constellation “in a couple of months” if Canada’s government approves its proposal, according to CEO Dan Goldberg. Canada is considering proposals on how to release satellite C-band spectrum in the country for terrestrial 5G wireless networks,

WASHINGTON — The next launch of Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket will be the second mission where the company attempts to recover the vehicle’s first stage as part of its efforts to reuse the booster. An Electron rocket is scheduled to launch no earlier than 6 a.m. Eastern May 15 from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1

WASHINGTON — A Japanese billionaire best known for buying a SpaceX Starship flight around the moon will go to space first on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station, two months after a Russian actress and director visit the station. Space tourism company Space Adventures and the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced May

SAN FRANCISCO – Axelspace, the Japanese firm planning to offer daily global optical imagery, raised 2.58 billion Japanese yen ($23.8 million) in a Series C investment round announced May 14 in Tokyo, May 13 in the United States. The Space Frontier Fund managed by Sparx Innovation for Future Co. provided funding alongside other venture capital

Raymond: The Space Force and the Air Force are “actively working” on concepts for the deployment of GMTI satellites WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force wants to use small radar satellites to track moving objects on the ground and the Space Force will help to make it happen, chief of space operations Gen. John Raymond

WASHINGTON — Ongoing work to address a problem seen on two previous Ariane 5 launches has kept that launch vehicle grounded for months and could delay the high-profile launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope later this year. The Ariane 5, one of the world’s most reliable launch vehicles, last launched in August 2020, placing

WASHINGTON — An amendment to a Senate bill would require NASA to select a second company for its Human Lander System program, a provision some fear could upend the overall effort to return humans to the moon as soon as 2024. The Senate Commerce Committee approved in a markup session May 12 a NASA authorization

SAN FRANCISCO – The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign awarded a contract to Blue Canyon Technologies to provide cubesats for a space mission sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The value of the award was not disclosed. Under the contract announced May 12, Blue Canyon Technologies, a Raytheon Technologies subsidiary, will provide a pair of six-unit

Projects will be co-funded by the government and contractors under “other transactions authority” agreements managed by the Space Enterprise Consortium WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force on May 11 issued three requests for industry proposals on technologies that the military will need to reach space and to operate spacecraft in orbit. The Space and Missile

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration has denied a payload review for in-space transportation company Momentus, meaning the company will miss its second opportunity to launch its first tugs. In a May 11 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Momentus said it the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation notified the company May 10

Sens. Warner and Bennett argue that U.S. intelligence agencies are affected by the move but their needs were not considered. WASHINGTON —  The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is backing efforts by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) to challenge the relocation of U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama.

TAMPA, Fla. — Inmarsat is pivoting to an administrative court in its battle to stop the Netherlands from auctioning 3.5 GHz spectrum, which the British satellite operator says it does not want to cede to bandwidth-hungry 5G networks. Inmarsat had sought an injunction in a civil court to stop the Dutch government’s plan to sell

DoD spokesman: Countries that conduct activities in space should share information about those activities, especially when they put people at risk. WASHINGTON — Less than two days after parts of an uncontrolled Chinese rocket fell into the Indian Ocean, the Pentagon said allowing a large booster to free fall toward Earth is “irresponsible behavior.” “We

SEOUL, South Korea — The chief of South Korea’s space agency has vowed to spin off near-term applications to the private sector and refocus the agency on long-term investments that “won’t pay off until 2050.” This was part of a broad reform plan unveiled by Lee Sang-ryool, president of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI),

Rep. Betty McCollum: ‘Too often over the past two decades, space acquisition programs have been delivered late and over budget.’ WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force has moved quickly to organize its operational units since it was established 16 months ago. But Congress would also like to see the service make headway in acquisition programs,

WASHINGTON — SpaceX launched a set of Starlink satellites May 9 on a Falcon 9 whose first stage was making its tenth flight, a long-awaited goal in the company’s reusability efforts. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 2:42 a.m. Eastern. The rocket’s upper stage

WASHINGTON — The blank-check company proposing to merge with in-space transportation company Momentus is going down to the wire in its effort to convince shareholders to give it more time to close the deal. Stable Road Acquisition Corporation, a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), said May 6 it adjourned a special meeting of its shareholders convened

HELSINKI — Debris from a large Chinese rocket stage fell into the Indian Ocean late May 8 Eastern as people around the world watched for signs of the fiery reentry event in the skies. Remnants from the roughly 30-meter-long, five-meter-wide empty core stage of the Long March 5B fell into the Indian Ocean  at 10:24

Earlier this month, atmospheric carbon dioxide reached a daily average of 421 parts per million, 50% higher than levels measured before the industrial revolution, according to data gathered at Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory. That information came from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth Systems Research Laboratory which tracks atmospheric gases and other climate change

The United States is expected to play a supporting role in an international campaign to monitor greenhouse gas emissions from space. Through the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, nations are coordinating efforts for space-based monitoring of air quality, greenhouse gases, the ozone layer and natural climate drivers like solar energy. China, Europe and Japan are

WASHINGTON — NASA has increased the prices it will charge for future private astronaut missions to the International Space Station, saying the new prices reflect the true costs of supporting those missions. A revised price list, posted April 29, updates the prices NASA charges to private missions flying to the ISS for cargo, station resources,

Latest HELSINKI — China’s foreign ministry acknowledged the imminent uncontrolled reentry of the Long March 5B Friday as the orbit of the first stage continued to lose altitude. At a Foreign Ministry regular press conference May 7 spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded to a question from Bloomberg stating that it is “common practice across the world

Big Data is boosting Earth Observation demand, creating new applications and changing traditional business models. As a disruptive innovation, it keeps changing the way EO data is being used. Technologies are no longer the only driver of innovation; this is about how, with innovations being combined, the ecosystem is rapidly maturing — and so are

WASHINGTON — NASA and Boeing have scheduled a second uncrewed test flight of the CST-100 Starliner commercial crew spacecraft for July 30. In separate statements, the agency and the company said they were planning to launch the Starliner on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 at 2:53 p.m. Eastern July 30 on the Orbital Flight

VALLETTA, Malta — German launch startup Isar Aerospace beat out Rocket Factory Augsburg and HyImpulse Technologies to win a DLR endorsement that clears the way for it to secure 11 million euros from the European Space Agency’s Boost! program.  DLR, Germany’s space agency, announced its microlauncher competition May 15, 2020 as a multi-round funding drive

SAN FRANCISCO — KSAT is rapidly installing antennas around the world to keep pace with the dramatic rise in small satellite activity. In 2021 alone, Norway-based KSAT is on track to add 42 antennas to KSATlite, its network that supports small satellite constellations. At the end of 2020, that network included 22 antennas. In the

WASHINGTON — A SpaceX Starship prototype successfully carried out a brief suborbital flight May 5 after four previous vehicles were destroyed during or shortly after landing. The Starship SN15 vehicle lifted off from SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas, test site at 6:24 p.m. Eastern. The vehicle flew to an altitude of approximately 10 kilometers before descending

WASHINGTON — Blue Origin announced May 5 that it will fly people on its New Shepard suborbital vehicle for the first time July 20, and will auction off one of the seats on that launch. The company said that, after years of test flights without anyone on board, it will start flying people on New

Onboard computing allows satellites to process data they collect and perform autonomous decision-making WASHINGTON — Loft Orbital announced May 5 it won a small business innovation research (SBIR) contract from the U.S. Space Force to support the development of an edge computer that can analyze data in space. The contract is a Phase 2 SBIR

HELSINKI — A large rocket stage which launched China’s first space station last week is likely to reenter the atmosphere around May 8 according to early space tracking predictions.  U.S. Department of Defense Spokesperson Mike Howard in a statement May 4 said that “U.S. Space Command is aware of and tracking the location of the

WASHINGTON — SpaceX continued the deployment of its Starlink broadband megaconstellation May 4 with the second launch of 60 satellites in less than a week. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A at 3:01 p.m. Eastern. The rocket’s second stage released its payload of 60 Starlink satellites 64 minutes later.

TAMPA, Fla. — Companies that build or operate Earth observation satellites foresee busier days ahead as governments, and businesses, step up climate change initiatives. Geospatial monitoring is key for tracking, understanding and ultimately cutting greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to what is increasingly seen as an environmental emergency. U.S. President Joe Biden set a target

WASHINGTON — Former senator Bill Nelson formally became NASA’s 14th administrator in a short ceremony May 3. Vice President Kamala Harris gave the oath of office to Nelson at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington. Only a handful of guests and a media pool were in attendance, and the swearing-in ceremony was not broadcast

WASHINGTON — The head of NASA’s Johnson Space Center is stepping down from his post because of health issues, but will remain with the agency as an adviser. In a three-minute video published May 3, Mark Geyer announced that he would leave the position of director of the Houston-based center in order to focus on

Satellites are leading the charge in the battle against climate change, providing critical insights about Earth that can only be gained from space. But are they also contributing to the problem? Putting aside environmental impacts of the rockets that launch them to orbit, satellites inject a complex mix of chemicals into the atmosphere when their

Does it make sense for the Pentagon to spend billions of dollars buying and maintaining satellites when there are now private companies that can provide space-based capabilities as a service? That’s the question at the heart of an ongoing debate about the role of private space enterprise in national security. Lower launch costs and advances

WASHINGTON — A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico May 2, returning four astronauts from a five-and-a-half-month stay on the International Space Station. The Crew Dragon spacecraft Resilience undocked from the station at 8:35 p.m. Eastern May 1. After departing the vicinity of the station and performing a 16-minute deborbit

King: Without an adequate N3C system ‘none of the rest of it works’ WASHINGTON — The U.S. nuclear command, control and communications system that serves as the link between U.S. nuclear forces and presidential authority could be vulnerable to cyber attacks and needs upgrades, Sen. Angus King told reporters May 1. King (I-Maine) is the

TAMPA, Fla. — The space market is at a watershed moment as private and public investments continue to surge. Boutique research and advisory firm Quilty Analytics recorded $5.7 billion in investments for the first quarter of 2021, a 356% increase from $1.2 billion in the same period last year. Growing investor appetite in the public

Updated 1:55 p.m. Eastern with Nelson statement. WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris will put her “personal stamp” on the National Space Council as it takes on both existing and new priorities under the Biden administration. Senior administration officials, speaking on background in a call with reporters May 1, confirmed that the administration will retain

WASHINGTON — Raytheon received a $228 million contract to continue development of a ground system for Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, the Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center announced April 30. The contract is for work on the operational control system for the newest version of GPS 3 satellites made by Lockheed Martin. The

WASHINGTON — With four flights now complete, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter will transition from being strictly a technology demonstration to a test of its ability to work in cooperation with the Perseverance rover. Ingenuity performed its fourth flight April 30, staying aloft for 117 seconds. The helicopter flew to an altitude of 5 meters, then

WASHINGTON — NASA should have revised its approach to the Human Landing System (HLS) program or withdrawn the solicitation entirely once it was clear the agency didn’t have the funding to support two companies, one of the losing bidders argues in its protest of the award. Dynetics, who filed a protest April 26 with the

WASHINGTON — The Senate unanimously confirmed Bill Nelson to be NASA’s next administrator, wrapping up a whirlwind confirmation process that was vastly different from that experienced by his predecessor. The Senate confirmed Nelson’s nomination to be NASA administrator late April 29 via unanimous consent, a mechanism used for the expedited passage of bills and nominations

TAMPA, Fla. — Maxar Technologies has appointed Chris Johnson as senior vice president of space programs delivery (SPD), overseeing spacecraft and robotic systems from design to distribution. Johnson has spent more than 20 years at Boeing, where he was most recently president of Boeing Satellite Systems International. At Boeing, Maxar said he was responsible for strategy,

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House space subcommittee says he is working to secure funding for NASA as part of what could be a multitrillion-dollar infrastructure package proposed by the White House. Speaking at a Washington Space Business Roundtable webinar April 28, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), named earlier this year to lead the House

HELSINKI — China successfully launched a 22-metric-ton module late Wednesday, beginning an intense period of missions for constructing the nation’s own space station. A Long March 5B heavy-lift rocket lifted off from the coastal Wenchang spaceport at 11:23 p.m. Eastern. The Tianhe space station core module separated from the first stage after 490 seconds of