Space news

NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch, launch, and docking activities for the agency’s Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) to the International Space Station.

SES is considering plans to provide 5G services directly to handheld devices after rescuing spectrum rights for 62 proposed satellites that were about to expire.

NOAA released the first imagery from the new GOES-18 weather satellite that launched March 1 from Cape Canaveral, and confirmed the spacecraft’s main camera doesn’t suffer the same cooling system problem that caused degraded vision in an earlier satellite.

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) on May 12 introduced legislation to create a National Guard for the U.S. Space Force.

Three years after capturing the first image of a supermassive black hole in a galaxy 55 million light years away, astronomers have managed to “photograph” the gaping maw of the smaller but much closer black hole quietly lurking at the core of the Milky Way, researchers announced Thursday.

Students from Boulder, Colorado, will have an opportunity next week to hear from American and European astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

Boeing says it is considering redesigning the propellant valves on future CST-100 Starliner commercial crew spacecraft as a long-term solution to the corrosion problem those valves suffered last year.

Warming seas and thinning polar ice caps promise to turn the Arctic into a hub of greater economic activity — and a new hotspot for military competition.

Two members of the “Polaris Program” say that SpaceX could begin training private astronauts for the first private spacewalk in spaceflight history...

Astra disclosed details about its new launch vehicle that will be capable of carrying heavier payloads and flying more frequently.

The U.S. Space Force plans to select a small satellite launcher to fly a payload to low Earth orbit on short notice, a capability known as tactically responsive space.

NASA, Boeing, and ULA teams, along with international partners, have finished the agency Flight Readiness Review (FRR) ahead of the Orbital Flight Test 2 (OFT-2) for Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Following the valve issues that scrubbed OFT-2’s launch attempt in August of 2021 and the communication and software issues that caused Boeing’s first OFT mission to end prematurely, Boeing hopes to demonstrate the physical and software changes made to the spacecraft on this mission.

Europe’s new Vega C launcher is on track for its inaugural launch from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, during the second half of June, according to officials managing final phases of integration.

British microlauncher startup Orbex unveiled a full-scale prototype May 11 of what it hopes will be the first-ever vertical rocket launched to orbit from British soil.

NASA officials cleared Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule for launch in a flight readiness review Wednesday, moving a step closer toward a critical unpiloted demonstration flight to attempt docking at the International Space Station and check off other test objectives left unaccomplished on a problem-plagued mission two-and-a-half years ago.

Elon Musk says Russian hackers are increasing efforts to take down SpaceX’s Starlink broadband service amid the war in Ukraine.

Colombia signed the Artemis Accords for responsible space exploration May 10, continuing a steady stream of countries that have acceded to the agreement.

As Arctic sea ice dips to new lows, economic activity in the region is picking up. To track the changes, companies and academic researchers often turn to satellite-based data products.

SpaceX COO and President Gwynne Shotwell says that the company now expects Starbase to be ready for Starship’s first orbital launch attempt...

The electric vehicle company that recently won a NASA contract to provide a modern version of the “Astrovan” to transport Artemis astronauts to the launch pad warned May 10 it may soon run out of money.

Boeing Co (BA.N) is feuding with Aerojet Rocketdyne (AJRD.N), a key supplier for its Starliner spacecraft, as the U.S. aerospace giant races to test launch the uncrewed astronaut capsule and mend its reputation in the space sector, people familiar with the matter said.

Northrop Grumman says it has a backup plan to fulfill the company’s contract to resupply to the International Space Station if the war in Ukraine continues to disrupt the supply of Russian engines and Ukrainian booster cores for the company’s Antares rocket.

Despite a widening loss in the first quarter, Virgin Orbit executives said they believe they have enough financial runway for their air launch business to gain altitude this year.

A lesson from the Ukraine war is the resiliency provided by large proliferated constellations, said Gen. David Thompson, vice chief of space operations of the Space Force

The four-person crew who will fly on the all-private Polaris Dawn mission — set to include the first commercial spacewalk and the debut of SpaceX’s extravehicular spacesuit — will begin training this month for their ride on a Dragon spacecraft to an altitude more than three times higher than the International Space Station.

The U.S. Space Force in a vision document calls for the service to invest in infrastructure and a skilled workforce to support the testing of new satellite designs and other systems.

Spire Global said May 10 it is installing Ku-band antennas from fellow smallsat operator Kepler Communications on at least three satellites to offer higher capacity data services beginning next year.

NASA will hold a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT) on Tuesday, May 17, to provide an update on the agency’s InSight Mars lander.

China launched eight more microsatellites for the Jilin 1 high-resolution Earth observation constellation May 4, five days after a separate mission deployed five similar Jilin 1 payloads into orbit.

The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office and the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense will launch a joint mission this summer on Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket.

The chances of large impacts from asteroids and near-Earth objects capable of causing widespread damage on Earth are small — but they aren’t zero.

India and France have agreed to cooperate to tackle “contemporary challenges that have arisen in space,” including secure access to outer space.

This is a bet that the long-promised space economy continues taking off.

After a few days of delays pushed the missions closer together, SpaceX is now preparing to launch two batches of 53 Starlink...

Astra announced May 10 that it plans to carry out launches from a spaceport in the Shetland Islands starting in 2023 as part of international expansion plans.

The Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft completed an automated docking in orbit with the Tianhe space station module late Monday following launch from Wenchang.

The IG determined that the U.S. Space Command basing decision "complied with Federal Law and DoD policy and that the process was reasonable"

As Maxar continues to see high demand for satellite imagery, it is looking to attract customers for its mobile terminals that give users direct access to the company’s imaging satellites.

Estimated to be magnitude 5, the quake is the biggest ever detected on another planet.

Argentinian Earth observation company Satellogic has signed an agreement with SpaceX to launch at least 68 more satellites on multiple Falcon 9...

Globalstar has signed a term sheet with a “large, global customer” to start deploying some of its spectrum for terrestrial use “in the U.S. and beyond,” the satellite operator said May 5.

NASA and Boeing will hold a media teleconference at about 6 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 11, following the Flight Readiness Review for the agency’s Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2), the second uncrewed flight test of the company’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

China plans to launch the Tianzhou 4 cargo resupply mission on Monday, May 9 at 17:56 UTC (13:56 EDT) to the Tiangong space station. The Tianzhou spacecraft will fly on a Chang Zheng 7 rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan, China, to an approximate 389.5 x 395 km orbit with an inclination of 41.58 degrees.

NASA announced Monday Dr. Marla Pérez-Davis, director of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, plans to retire in June after nearly four decades of service at the agency.

South Korea’s newly elected president Yoon Suk-yeol will take office May 10 with a set of ambitious space projects aimed at making the country a major space power by 2035.

Astronauts of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission, including crew members from NASA and ESA (European Space Agency), will answer questions about their recent mission aboard the International Space Station during a post-splashdown news conference at 11:45 a.m. EDT Wednesday, May 11.

CACI International is funding an experiment to demonstrate space technologies for military use, including an alternative to GPS navigation.