Space news

Cognitive Space, a startup based in Houston, Texas, announced Dec. 1 that retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Aaron Prupas has joined the company as a strategic advisor.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station will conduct a pair of U.S. spacewalks in December to install rollout solar arrays to increase electrical power in support of station operations and scientific research.

AST SpaceMobile said Nov. 30 it could raise more than $86 million from selling a chunk of shares as the company looks to accelerate its direct-to-smartphone constellation plans.

The U.S. Space Force has received initial images from a new missile-warning satellite launched in July.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris and French President Emmanuel Macron to NASA Headquarters in Washington Wednesday.

Dutch remote monitoring specialist Hiber is demanding $1.5 million from cash-strapped Astrocast after plans to be sold to the company ran out of time, according to the Swiss small satellite operator.

ISS Reboost: Today, the ISS performed a reboost using the 81 Progress 8 R&D thrusters. This reboost is one of several reboosts setting up phasing for 67 Soyuz 2-Orbit rendezvous and 68 Soyuz landing in March. The burn duration was 12 minutes 3 seconds with a Delta-V of 1.20 m/s and a total of 214kg …

OroraTech, a German company developing a constellation of thermal mapping satellites for tracking wildfires and other applications, has raised an additional 15 million euros ($15.4 million) to support work on future satellites.

Following a successful first launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) and its critical Core Stage, Boeing is looking ahead to “the SLS fleet” as the aerospace company moves to complete the next three core stages for Artemis missions II through IV.

ispace is seeking to become the first private company to successfully land on the Moon.

NASA shared a response Wednesday, Nov. 30, on an independent review board established to assess plans and goals for the next generation of Earth-observing satellites: NASA’s Earth System Observatory, a cutting edge suite of spacecraft that will forward understanding of our changing planet.

SpaceX is readying to use its reliable Falcon 9 rocket to send a privately funded mission to the surface of the moon. However, HAKUTO-R Mission 1, slated to lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), is now awaiting a new launch date.

The European Commission awarded a contract to Arianespace Nov. 29 for launches of five Copernicus Earth observation spacecraft on Vega C rockets between 2024 and 2026.

China’s Tianzhou-4 cargo spacecraft released a small satellite after its departure from the Tiangong space station and ahead of its controlled deorbiting.

SpaceX is expected to roll a Falcon 9 rocket back into its hangar at Cape Canaveral for troubleshooting, postponing the planned launch of a Japanese commercial moon lander for an unspecified period. SpaceX provided no details about the reason for grounding the rocket.

The French government said Nov. 29 it will join the United States and several other countries in a pledge not to conduct anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons tests that can leave hazardous debris in orbit.

For the second time in less than two weeks, SpaceX has indefinitely delayed a Falcon 9 launch after discovering apparent issues with...

China has six astronauts aboard its recently-completed space station for the first time following the arrival of three crew members aboard Shenzhou-15.

NASA has canceled a greenhouse gas monitoring mission once intended to fly as a commercial hosted payload after the mission lost its ride to orbit and suffered severe cost overruns.

Shay Har-Noy, former Spire Global general manager for aviation and a former DigitalGlobe and Maxar Technologies vice president, has taken the helm at Edgybees, a company that specializes in aligning satellite and aerial still and full-motion imagery.

Nothing blew up, which is always a win.

SiriusXM said Nov. 29 it has ordered two more satellites from Maxar Technologies to expand its radio broadcasting constellation.

Gen. James Dickinson, head of U.S. Space Command, said the U.S. military should take advantage of commercially available launch options and vehicles that can operate from multiple locations

British handset maker Bullitt said Nov. 29 it will release a smartphone early next year capable of sending and receiving texts via satellites in geostationary orbit.

Payloads: ICE Cubes #7: Experiment Cubes were removed for the ICE Cubes Facility and replaced with new cubes which recently arrived on SpX-26. The Artery in Microgravity – Orbit Your Thesis! (Ice Cubes #7) is a student-built experiment, part of the European Space Agency’s “Orbit Your Thesis!” program that investigates blood flow through models of …

Three Chinese astronauts were greeted by three of their colleagues Tuesday as they floated into the Tiangong space station following a launch on a Long March rocket earlier in the day, marking the first time China’s space program has had six astronauts in orbit at the same time.

The Pentagon in its 2022 report on China's military capabilities says the PLA continues to develop weapons for use against satellites in orbit

NASA announced Monday it intends to cancel development of its GeoCarb mission, and instead implement a plan for pursuing alternate options to measure and observe greenhouse gases.

Amazon’s cloud computing division successfully ran a software suite on a satellite in orbit, in a “first-of-its-kind” experiment, the company announced Tuesday.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said Nov. 28 that the country will land a robotic spacecraft on the moon in 2032 and on Mars in 2045.

As NASA plans for long-term human exploration of the Moon under Artemis, new technologies are required to meet the unique challenges of living and working on another world.

China has launched the Shenzhou-15 mission to the Tiangong space station on Tuesday, Nov. 29, during an instantaneous launch window at 15:08 UTC from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC). It launched three taikonauts to the station to replace the current crew of the Shenzhou-14 mission, using a Chang Zheng 2F (CZ-2F) rocket and launching from Space Launch Site 1 (SLS-1), which is also known as Site 901.

"It’s really hard to articulate what the feeling is."

While the European Space Agency has secured funding to continue the ExoMars mission for a 2028 launch, that plan requires cooperation with NASA that has yet to be finalized.

As the Artemis 1 mission reaches the halfway mark, NASA managers are adding additional test objectives for the Orion spacecraft to prepare for the vehicle’s first crewed flight.

A commercial moon craft developed by the Japanese company ispace is awaiting launch from Cape Canaveral before dawn Wednesday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will send it on a five-month trajectory culminating in a lunar landing attempt next year, an achievement that could make ispace the first private company to accomplish the feat.

Ukraine’s Cabinet declared Starlink satellite equipment exempt from VAT and customs duty, The Kyiv Independent reported, adding that Starlink has been crucial...

The U.S. Space Systems Command announced Nov. 28 that two satellite designs — one by Millennium Space Systems and the other by Raytheon Intelligence & Space — passed critical reviews and will move into the next phase of development.

At the halfway point in NASA’s Artemis 1 mission, the unpiloted Orion moonship is chalking up a near-flawless flight, mission managers said Monday, beaming back spectacular images of Earth disappearing from view as it was eclipsed by the moon.

This was the rare year when there were no August storms. Then things blew up.

SpaceX-26 (SpX-26) Launch and Dock: The SpX-26 Dragon spacecraft launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 1:20 PM CT on Saturday, November 26th, and docked to the ISS the following morning at 6:39 AM CT. The spacecraft is carrying more than 7,700 pounds of research, supplies, and hardware to the ISS. Payloads: Faraday Research Facility-2: …

China has laid out its pathway for robotic and crewed lunar and deep space exploration, with a number of missions building towards a permanent moon base.

Three Chinese astronauts will strap into a Shenzhou spacecraft and rocket into orbit Tuesday in pursuit of China’s Tiangong space station on a six-month mission to transition the space lab from construction into an operational phase.

Update: After indefinitely delaying ispace’s first Moon lander launch on November 30th to fix unspecified issues with its Falcon 9 rocket, multiple...

The U.S. Space Force announced Nov. 28 it delivered the second and final military communications payloads that will launch in 2023 on Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission

The U.S. Space Force announced Nov. 28 it has ordered three GPS 3F satellites from Lockheed Martin for $744 million.

Millennium Space Systems announced Nov. 23 its proposed satellite design for a U.S. Space Force missile-warning constellation passed a critical review.

A day after launching from Kennedy Space Center, SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule approached the International Space Station for an automated docking Sunday with more than 7,700 pounds of supplies and experiments.

SpaceX’s newest Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft, C211, has launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 2:20:43 PM EST (19:20:43 UTC) on Saturday, Nov. 26 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Following an on-time liftoff, Cargo Dragon rendezvoused and docked with the forward port on the Harmony module of the International Space Station (ISS) at 7:39 AM EST (12:39 UTC) on Sunday, Nov. 27.

Following a flawless Saturday launch, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station on Sunday morning, delivering several...