Space news

Impact Observatory, a company that pairs satellite imagery with artificial intelligence for mapping and monitoring, raised $5.9 million in seed funding.

Payloads: BioFabrication Facility (BFF): Vials were inserted into the BFF that contained Cell Cassette 20510 in order to re-attempt a print session from the previous day’s aborted session. Four cleaning (Bio-ink) syringes were swapped out, media was applied into the BFF and tissue printing was initiated. The Cassette was removed, and Cassette 20511 was installed …

The failure of Japan’s H3 rocket on its inaugural flight in March could delay several science missions, including two scheduled to launch on another rocket.

Lockheed Martin is establishing a new company that will offer communications and navigation services for what it foresees to be a growing number of government and commercial lunar missions.

Mobile satcom services provider Ovzon said March 28 it has secured a deadline extension enabling it to keep priority spectrum rights for its first broadband satellite, as long as it launches early enough in a July-September window SpaceX has set for the mission.

The head of the U.S. Space Force told lawmakers March 28 that the service is investing heavily in cybersecurity for satellite ground systems in response to increasing threats.

The Department of the Air Force has received no official communication from the White House regarding the relocation of U.S. Space Command's headquarters, Secretary Frank Kendall told lawmakers.

China is preparing to launch its first satellites for a national low Earth orbit broadband megaconstellation to challenge SpaceX's Starlink.

There are two words that most people never want to hear at a rocket launch, “abort” and “scrub.” As Starship’s orbital test flight gets closer, it may take multiple attempts to get Booster 7 and Ship 24 off the ground. If so, it wouldn’t be the first super-heavy launch vehicle to experience issues before and/or during flight. Here’s a look at some of the aborts across history, some of which could happen during a Starship launch attempt.

NASA has selected Dr. Jon B. Olansen as the new manager of the agency’s Gateway Program, an international collaboration building humanity's first lunar space station, which will support Artemis missions to the Moon.

Local students will have an opportunity to hear from NASA astronauts and learn more about Artemis lunar exploration, in an event hosted at 11 a.m. EDT Thursday, March 30, at the Martin Luther King Library in Washington.

Maxar Technologies unveiled an updated version March 28 of its popular global basemap.

Isar Aerospace could launch its Spectrum rocket within the next year.

Payloads: Ampli Space Pharmacy: Ampli Space Pharmacy hardware was stowed. The Ampli Space Pharmacy investigation studies the properties of chemical reactions of fluids flowing through membranes in microgravity. Researchers can use resulting information to refine an existing organic synthesis and bioprocessing approach to produce new compounds. This modular approach could provide a way to make …

German launch vehicle developer Isar Aerospace announced March 28 it raised $165 million to scale up production of its Spectrum rocket scheduled to make its first flight later this year.

Several military allies of the United States in the Middle East have expressed interest in creating their own space forces, and have sought advice from the U.S. on how to accomplish this goal.

According to a company-wide email from CEO Dan Hart, Virgin Orbit will be extending its operational pause again to pursue an investment that could save the company.

Virgin Orbit is again extending its unpaid pause in operations to continue pursuing a lifeline investment, CEO Dan Hart told employees in a company-wide email.

High school students from traditionally underrepresented and underserved communities will have a path to pursue careers in STEM with help from NASA. The agency announced Monday it has selected seven Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and one Predominantly Black Institution (PBI) to receive more than $3 million in funding to streng

Kathy Lueders, the NASA official who oversees the International Space Station and commercial cargo and crew programs, will retire from the agency at the end of April and be succeeded by her deputy.

The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, which launched Expedition 68 crewmembers Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin, and NASA’s Frank Rubio on Sept. 21, 2022, returned to Earth in automated mode after suffering a leak in a coolant loop last December.

OneWeb is turning its attention to finalizing ground stations after launching a final batch of satellites needed to provide broadband services globally, executive chair Sunil Mittal said March 27.

NASA and Boeing will host a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday, March 29, to provide an update on the Crew Flight Test (CFT) of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced Monday he is taking additional steps forward to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) at the agency. Nelson named Steve Shih to serve in a new position as the agency’s first Diversity Ambassador and selected Elaine Ho as the next associate administrator for the Office of Diversity an

NASA Associate Administrator, Kathy Lueders announces retirement; Ken Bowersoz announced as new head of Space Operations.

Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, announced Monday she will retire from the agency at the end of April. Lueders’ current deputy and astronaut, Ken Bowersox, will become the new head of Space Operations, effective Monday, May 1.

Payloads: Engineered Heart Tissues-2: A media change, sampling and assigned treatment dosing was performed on each Tissue Chamber on Saturday. Engineered Heart Tissues-2 continues work with 3D cultured cardiac muscle tissue to assess human cardiac function in microgravity. Previous work with 3D cultures in space detected changes at the cellular and tissue level that could …

Recommendations from a 12-person ESA advisory group.

The company says it intends to return to flight "soon."

A tight launch market, coupled with high inflation, has driven up launch prices in the last year, putting a squeeze on customers.

Maxar, Planet and BlackSky are working to expand their offerings beyond optical imagery.

ABL Space Systems has secured a $60 million contract from the US Space Force and US Air Force.

Canada has formally committed to an extension of the International Space Station to 2030.

The ISRO successfully launched 26 OneWeb internet satellites, completing OneWeb's first generation constellation.

The Space Systems Command announced March 24 it has selected 18 vendors to provide data analytics and software services to help decision makers analyze information about the space domain.

The Canadian government formally committed March 24 to an extension of the International Space Station to 2030, joining other Western partners but not Russia.

OneWeb has finished its initial satellite constellation buildout, as India and its space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), made its second orbital flight of 2023 by flying 36 of the company’s satellites aboard its LVM3 (previously known as the GSLV Mk III) launch vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

New Zealand-based aerospace company, Dawn Aerospace, has received certification from the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for its Mk-II Aurora spaceplane's rocket-powered flight campaign. The Mk-II Aurora's mission is to fly twice to space in a day, demonstrating that rocket-powered systems can be as reusable as commercial aircraft.

A pair of space companies received delisting warnings on Friday, according to securities filings, as both ventures’ stock prices stood below $1 a share.

Media are invited to visit NASA’s simulated Mars habitat on Tuesday, April 11, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. This summer, four volunteers will begin a yearlong Mars mission in the ground-based habitat, helping NASA prepare for human exploration of Mars for the benefit of humanity.

Rocket Lab is building a bigger, reusable launch vehicle called Neutron, and it’s targeting a price point near $50 million per launch to challenge Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Blue Origin says it is preparing to resume flights of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle after completing an investigation into a failed launch last September.

The uncrewed Roscosmos Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft will undock from the International Space Station on Tuesday, March 28.

WASHINGTON — ABL Space Systems, a California-based launch startup, announced March 24 it has secured a $60 million contract from the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Air Force that also includes matching funds from private investors, a type of agreement known as strategic funding increase, or STRATFI.  The contract is for ground and flight demonstrations […]

Cape Canaveral’s infrastructure is being stretched to its limits as the world’s busiest launch site continues to get busier.

Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin released findings from an investigation into the failed flight of a cargo mission last year, which it says was due to an issue in the rocket’s engine nozzle.

An agreement for a United Arab Emirates (UAE) rover to fly on China’s Chang’e-7 lunar mission has reportedly been impacted by US export control rules.

Blue Origin has completed and released its findings from the investigation of their NS-23 in flight anomaly and abort.

Payloads: BioFabrication Facility (BFF): Tissue Cassettes were installed into BFF. Using 3D biological printers to produce usable human organs has long been a dream of scientists and doctors around the globe. However, printing the tiny, complex structures found inside human organs, such as capillary structures, has proven difficult to accomplish in Earth’s gravity environment. To …

SpaceX’s 20th mission of the year is set to launch this Friday, March 24, sending another batch of Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO). The mission, named Starlink Group 5-5, is scheduled for liftoff at 11:43 AM EDT (15:43 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida.