Space news

AstroPi: The 6mm Camera Lens was removed from the AstroPi Vis unit and the Bumper Legs were removed from both the AstroPi Vis and IR units. This completes the European AstroPi Challenge Mission ‘Life in Space’. Two augmented Raspberry Pi computers (called AstroPis) were flown to the ISS and are both equipped with the mighty …

After a nearly two-year pause in flights, starting after a deviation from controlled airspace during Sir Richard Branson’s flight in July 2021, the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity made its first powered flight since the eventful Unity 22 mission.

Virgin Galactic launched its first spaceflight in nearly two years on Thursday, a key final test for the space tourism company before it begins flying commercial passengers.

"It is gratifying to see folks coming around."

The first components for a new mobile launch platform for NASA’s Space Launch System, which has suffered extensive cost and schedule overruns, have arrived at the Kennedy Space Center.

Iceye unveiled an imaging mode at the GEOINT Symposium that distinguishes human-made from natural objects and highlights moving vehicles.

Just under three weeks after Rocket Lab launched the “Rocket Like a Hurricane” mission placing two time-resolved observations of precipitation structure and storm intensity with a constellation of smallsats (TROPICS) satellites for NASA into low Earth orbit, the company launched its Electron rocket on the “Coming to a Storm Near You” mission on Friday.

Two companies are preparing for a 2026 launch of what they believe will be the first commercial robotic Mars lander mission, the start of what the companies plan to be a regular series of such missions.

Fleet Space Technologies has raised around $33 million in a Series C round to expand its satellite-based mineral exploration services.

NASA and the U.S. Department of Education signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, strengthening the collaboration between the two agencies, including efforts to increase access to high-quality STEM and space education to students and schools across the nation.

BlackSky and Spire Global announced May 24 they are offering a new monitoring service that tracks ships via satellites.

The business case simply did not close.

Payloads: Ring Sheared Drop-Interfacial Bioprocessing of Pharmaceuticals (RSD-IBP): The existing syringe and test cell (Sample 24) were removed, and a new syringe and new test cell (Sample 25) were installed into the RSD hardware in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) Work Volume. The ISS’s RSD module is a containerless liquid system that makes it possible …

Japanese space robotics venture GITAI has raised around $29 million to accelerate technology development and its U.S. expansion plans.

A U.S. missile-warning satellite completed a major review, keeping the spacecraft on track for launch in 2028.

"We now have a new way of connecting very remote places."

The first Astranis-built satellite has reached geostationary orbit over Alaska and completed a key end-to-end payload test following its Falcon Heavy launch at the end of April, the Californian manufacturer announced May 24.

Astranis, a San Francisco-based company with an alternative approach to providing internet access from satellites, has its first spacecraft in orbit and the company on Wednesday said it’s working “perfectly.”

Commercial imaging satellites and change detection analysis have emerged as powerful tools increasingly employed by national security agencies. But the potential of this technology has yet to be exploited for U.S. homeland defense, officials said May 23.

British Earth observation startup Satellite Vu raised 12.7 million British pounds ($15.8 million) for its thermal satellite constellation.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is planning a new procurement of commercial services to monitor activities from space.

Three aerospace companies submitted winning bids at a bankruptcy auction for most of the assets of launch company Virgin Orbit, ending any chance that company could return to flight under new ownership.

Virgin Orbit has sold its assets and equipment to a trio of aerospace companies through an auction, as confirmed by a court filing released on Tuesday.

Bankrupt rocket company Virgin Orbit is shutting down after selling its facility leases and equipment to a trio of aerospace companies in an auction, the company confirmed on Tuesday.

U.S. defense and intelligence agencies need to forge even closer ties with the commercial sector to address global security threats, said Chris Scolese, National Reconnaissance Office director.

Rocket propulsion startup Ursa Major won a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory contract to support the development of two of the company’s rocket engines.

The Spaceport Company has successfully demonstrated their capability to conduct launches from a floating platform in US territorial waters for the first time.

Private Astronaut Mission (PAM) Axiom-2 (Ax-2): ISS Familiarization, Emergency Overview, and On-Orbit Adaptation: The Ax-2 crew completed all their on-orbit handover/ISS familiarization activities with the ISS PAM facilitator. Additionally, the Ax-2 crew completed the Emergency Roles and Responsibility review with the full ISS crew and completed the Emergency On-Board Training (OBT). Emergency response hardware was …

Astrobotic to provide cargo systems as part of the Blue Origin National Team's, who won NASA's Sustainable Human Landing System Contract for the Artemis program last week.

Two companies have demonstrated the ability to conduct launches from a floating platform in U.S. territorial waters, a concept that could help address congestion at terrestrial launch sites.

Hyperspectral startup Orbital Sidekick is acquiring imagery from its first two satellites launched in April on the SpaceX Transporter-7 rideshare flight.

SpaceX is targeting 11:25 PM ET (03:25 UTC) tonight to launch Arabsat BADR-8 to a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). The launch window...

L3Harris Technologies announced a contract May 22 from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity to provide technology to help characterize and predict human mobility.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is working with NASA to develop a positioning and navigation system to guide visitors around the surface of the moon “as accurately and as safely as GPS does on Earth."

Commercial satellite imagery is helping NATO address its need for persistent monitoring in spite of cost, technical and licensing issues.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to join the Federal Aviation Administration as a co-defendant to fight a lawsuit brought by environmental groups following the company’s first test flight of Starship, the world’s largest rocket, which ended in a mid-flight explosion last month.

Repairs following the maiden Starship flight and preparations ahead of the second launch are ongoing at Starbase, all while SpaceX is at an all-time high in terms of Starship vehicle production with a new ship and booster soon to be completed.

NASA has selected a new mission to help humanity better understand Earth’s dynamic atmosphere – specifically, ice clouds that form at high altitudes throughout tropical and sub-tropical regions. The PolSIR instrument – short for Polarized Submillimeter Ice-cloud Radiometer – will study such ice clouds to determine how and why they change throughout

Private Astronaut Mission (PAM) Axiom 2: SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom successfully launched on Sunday, May 21st, at 4:37 PM CST and docked to the ISS on Monday, May 22nd, at 8:25 AM CST. This was the fastest launch to dock time for a Crew Dragon. With the arrival of the four private astronauts, Peggy Whitson, …

OneWeb announced six finalists May 22 for its annual Innovation Challenge.

After Artemis I launched in November 2022 atop the only super heavy-lift rocket capable of carrying crew and large cargo to deep space in a single lift, James Savage went […]

Umbra won a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to demonstrate novel collection techniques using synthetic aperture radar satellites, the company announced May 22.

SpaceX delivered another quartet of astronauts to the International Space Station on Monday morning, on a private flight that included government astronauts from Saudi Arabia as the Arab kingdom leverages U.S. companies to expands its ambitions in space. 

Synthetaic, a startup that uses artificial intelligence to analyze data from space and air sensors, announced May 22 that former director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Robert Cardillo has joined its board of directors.

SpaceX has rapidly become the world's most prolific human spaceflight provider.

China’s anti-satellite capabilities are not the biggest threat to GPS. What should be much more of a concern to U.S. policymakers is that China relies far less on space for critical GPS-like services than we do.

Impact Observatory unveiled an early access program May 22 for IO Monitor, the Washington-based company’s global mapping and monitoring product.

China conducted a pair of launches last week to replenish its Beidou navigation system and send science and radar tech test satellites into orbit.

Space launch operations at Cape Canaveral, the nation’s busiest spaceport, were recently replicated in a digital 3D “metaverse” that merged virtual and physical worlds.

Four private astronauts are in orbit following the successful launch of Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2), the second all private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. Axiom Space astronauts lifted off at 5:37 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 21, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.