Space news

After 20 years at the helm, our friend and colleague Mat Kaplan is retiring as the host of Planetary Radio. The good news is the show will be in excellent hands after Mat’s departure. We can finally announce Planetary Radio’s new host is Sarah Al-Ahmed.

NASA obligated $2.04 billion to SpaceX in fiscal year 2022.

The Planetary Society, the world’s largest and most influential space advocacy organization, seeks a talented Audio Editor to support the post-production needs of our two podcasts.

Partner agencies on the International Space Station program say they are in discussions about how they will use, and pay for, commercial space stations that will replace it.

Boeing announced Oct. 26 it will take yet another charge against earnings because of delays in the CST-100 Starliner commercial crew program, bringing the total losses recorded by the company to date on the program to nearly $900 million.

Gen. David "DT" Thompson, U.S. vice chief of space operations, said the Space Force is likely to see continued funding increases to counter China’s rapid advances in its space program.

NanoAvionics expects to be able to churn out several hundred satellites annually in two years following a multimillion-dollar investment plan from its new Norwegian owners.

Media accreditation is open for SpaceX’s 26th commercial resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station. Liftoff of the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket is targeted no earlier than Friday, Nov. 18, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SDA Director Derek Tournear said Starlink's performance so far speaks to the power of a proliferated constellation to deter attacks and provide resilience

Roscosmos launched Progress MS-21 atop a Soyuz-2.1a rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, at 8:20 PM EDT on Oct. 25 (00:20 UTC on Oct. 26). After launching from Site 31/6 in Baikonur, the Progress MS-21 spacecraft conducted a standard two-day autonomous rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS).

Silicon Valley startup Array Labs raised $5 million in a pre-seed funding round backed by Seraphim Space and Agya Ventures, a real estate technology fund.

Mars used to have oceans, lakes, and rivers. Where did the water go, how much is left, and how can we use it for science and exploration?

This fragment was one of more than 1,500 pieces of debris from Cosmos 1408.

Orbit Fab, a startup developing infrastructure for in-space refueling of satellites, announced Oct. 25 it lined up a new investor to support those plans.

A spaceplane launched by China in August has performed an orbit-raising maneuver and recently secured new funding to promote new modes of transportation.

A billionaire-backed private astronaut mission on a SpaceX Crew Dragon has slipped from late this year to March 2023 and could be further delayed, in part for issues beyond its control.

Fourteen years after winning its first major NASA contract, data shared by Aviation Week reporter Irene Klotz shows that SpaceX has usurped...

Russia launched a Progress supply freighter Tuesday on a two-day trek to the International Space Station to deliver 5,556 pounds of cargo, fuel, water, and nitrogen to the orbiting research laboratory. A Soyuz booster launched the Progress cargo ship from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Space Crystals plans to send crystals grown in microgravity and infused with customer DNA to the moon next year.

The last two high-resolution imaging satellites for Airbus Defence and Space’s Pléiades Neo constellation have arrived in French Guiana ahead of their launch next month.

A U.S. Space Force infrared sensing demonstration satellite launched in July will soon start receiving data, the Space Systems Command announced Oct. 24.

"Almost from the beginning of the company, I wanted to build a Falcon 9 competitor."

The war in Ukraine has prompted European civil and military space to revise budgets, programs, and policies to fortify launch capabilities and meet emerging needs.

Pilots from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland, and students across southern Maryland will have an opportunity this week to hear from NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

In a recent interview with NASASpaceflight, Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) co-founder and COO Dr. Stefan Brieschenk talked about current manufacturing methods and upcoming plans for its RFA One rocket.  

A weekly European spaceflight update with exclusive infographics, in-depth analysis, and a review of the week's biggest announcements.

A startup that envisions manufacturing large numbers of small satellites has raised a seed round of funding.

Preligens is expanding its U.S. subsidiary in a bid to become a long-term supplier of geospatial data analysis software to the U.S. Department of Defense.

On October 17th, a NASA official speaking at an Astrophysics Advisory Committee meeting revealed that the European Space Agency (ESA) had begun...

SpaceX has assembled the fourth Falcon Heavy for the rocket’s first launch in 40 months. A photo shared by SpaceX on October...

A new report by The Aerospace Corporation calls for a more holistic approach to space safety, from avoiding collisions in orbit to cybersecurity.

A Russian Soyuz rocket launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome at 3:57 p.m. EDT (1957 GMT) Saturday with three Gonets data relay payloads and a demonstrator spacecraft for a proposed constellation of Russian broadband internet satellites.

OneWeb has resumed deployment of its satellite constellation with the launch of 36 satellites aboard India’s GSLV Mk.III rocket. The mission – which marks the first commercial launch for the GSLV – lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 12:07 AM local time on Sunday, Oct. 23 (18:37 UTC on Saturday, Oct. 22).

OneWeb confirmed it established contact with all 36 new satellites launched Saturday on top of India’s most powerful rocket, resuming the deployment of the company’s fleet of internet relay platforms after suspending launches with Russia earlier this year.

NASA will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) mission. JPSS-2 is the third satellite in the polar satellite series and is expected to capture data to improve weather forecasts, helping scientists predict and prepare

Vendors selected for the STEP 2.0 program will compete for task orders under a five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract

Initial direct-to-smartphone services from Iridium’s constellation will support occasional communications for emergencies and other unforeseen needs in remote areas worldwide, CEO Matt Desch said Oct. 20.

NASA will host a virtual media briefing at 2 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 27, to share new scientific findings based on observations from the agency’s InSight Mars lander and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

NASA will host a media teleconference at 3 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Oct. 25, to discuss the latest findings of the agency’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT), including a new, unanticipated capability which will help better understand impacts of climate change.

New stars are being born, new missions are being conceived, and new discoveries are being made all the time.

The launch of a set of OneWeb satellites on an Indian rocket could be the harbinger of a greater role India will play in a commercial launch industry straining to satisfy demand.

French startup Grasp SAS has acquired Baltimore, Maryland-based AirPhoton to create Grasp Global, a U.S. Earth-observation company.

ESA is putting the finishing touches on a package of programs it will ask its member states to support at a council meeting in November.

After the suspension of commercial launches on Russia’s Soyuz rocket earlier this year, OneWeb is set to resume deploying satellites for its global internet network Saturday with an Indian GSLV Mk.3 launcher, one of five OneWeb missions planned before mid-2023 to finish the company’s first-generation constellation.

Starlink terminals are in Iran, and efforts to bring more in are expected to scale up. On Thursday, a video of a...