Space news

Satellite TV broadcaster and terrestrial wireless operator Dish Network announced plans Aug. 8 to merge with EchoStar, its sister company focused on providing broadband services from space.

The Space Development Agency announced plans to build a new satellite testing facility at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota.

Payloads: Plant Habitat-03B: The crew gained access to the Plant Habitat facility, obtained several groups of leaf samples, and prepared them for return to the ground. The Arabidopsis thaliana plants began growing in mid-July and will continue to develop throughout the 91-day growth cycle. Plants exposed to environmental stress, including spaceflight, undergo epigenetic changes that …

ExoTerra Resources has demonstrated its first Halo Hall-effect thrusters in orbit on DARPA Blackjack satellites.

As recently announced by Leaf Space, the Italian company has now secured EUR 20M (USD 22M) in Series B funding, positioning itself among the world’s leading Ground Segment-as-a-Service (GSaaS) providers. […]

Through the Slingshot 1 mission, the Aerospace Corp. has demonstrated how open standards and nonproprietary interfaces can help streamline satellite integration and operation.

In-space propulsion specialist Busek said that more than 100 of the company’s BHT-350 Hall-effect thrusters are operating in orbit on OneWeb communications satellites.

KSAT is establishing an automated Ka-band ground network for small satellite constellations

Billionaire Charlie Ergen is consolidating his telecom empire, merging his companies DISH Network and EchoStar in an all-stock deal.

Rocket Factory Augsburg has secured fresh investment as it pushes towards a first orbit launch attempt from SaxaVord, Scotland.

Solestial announced plans earlier this month to supply solar arrays for space tugs developed by Denver startup Atomos Space.

Boeing and NASA have announced another delay for the first crewed flight of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner; they are now targeting no earlier than March 2024.

NanoAvionics has unveiled plans to ship a revolutionary nanosatellite for a groundbreaking mission that will investigate black holes and neutron stars from a low Earth orbit (LEO).

Japanese startup Pale Blue announced a contract Aug. 7 to supply water vapor thrusters for South Korea’s Yonsei University.

Boeing has delayed the first flight of its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle with astronauts on board to no earlier than March 2024 as the company continues to work on issues with the spacecraft’s parachutes and wiring.

Eutelsat said Aug. 7 it is partnering with a regional satellite operator in Thailand to order a high throughput geostationary telecoms spacecraft over Asia.

NASA's TROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats) are now fully operational, and are ready to bolster monitoring efforts for the ongoing Atlantic hurricane season.

HyImpulse Technologies has received the first Air Navigation Order from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) authorizing them to launch one rocket.

The helicopter performed a short hop to help the team better understand why its previous flight was interrupted.

Amazon has announced its plans to launch the first pair of Project Kuiper prototypes this fall using a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket due to the delay of ULA's Vulcan Centaur.

Space infrastructure company Redwire said Monday that it nearly erased its net losses during the second quarter and further grew its contract backlog.

On Sunday August 7th at 3:09pm, at Starbase Texas, SpaceX's Super Heavy Booster 9 prototype roared to life for the first time as part of its first static fire test.

In-space transportation company Momentus is now offering a version of its Vigoride tug as a satellite bus for commercial and government customers.

Boeing expects the Starliner crew capsule to be ready no earlier than March 2024. However, that could slip further pending the results...

"The design changes were, I would say, minimal."

Boeing’s Mark Nappi said today that the Starliner Crew Flight Test will be ready to go in March 2024, but fitting it into the busy space station and United Launch […]

LeoStella the small satellite manufacturer has announced significant details about its latest and largest spacecraft, the LS300 satellite bus.

Amazon plans to deploy its first pair of Project Kuiper prototypes this fall on an Atlas 5 from United Launch Alliance, the internet giant said Aug. 7 after switching rockets a second time to avoid mounting delays.

Boeing said Monday it aims to be ready to fly NASA astronauts with its Starliner capsule for the first time by March, resetting its timeline after the company delayed a planned launch this summer.

It’s a busy week in spaceflight, especially for Russia. The week of Aug. 7 following through to Aug. 13 will see Russia launch two missions to space, including the nation’s fourth-generation radio navigation satellite, GLONASS-K2, and Roscosmos’s first mission returning to the Moon in over four decades, dubbed Luna 25.

Scientists have unveiled the most accurate measurements ever recorded of Mars' rotation, shedding light on the planet's subtle wobble caused by the movement of its molten metal core.

In a strategic move to meet the growing demand for small satellites, Lockheed Martin has unveiled a cutting-edge satellite assembly facility at its Waterton campus near Denver, Colorado.

NanoAvionics is preparing to ship a nanosatellite slated to launch this fall to study black holes and neutron stars from low Earth orbit, the Lithuanian manufacturer announced Aug. 7.

A communications satellite designed by Lockheed Martin for the Space Development Agency passed a critical design review, the company announced Aug. 7.

22 V2 mini Starlink satellites are well on their way to their operational orbits today following last night’s successful launch atop a...

Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), a prominent launch service provider has successfully secured a substantial €30 million investment from KKR, a renowned global investment firm.

NASA will provide live coverage beginning at 10:15 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 9, as two Roscosmos cosmonauts conduct a spacewalk to upgrade the International Space Station. The spacewalk is expected to begin about 10:45 a.m., and last up to seven hours.

Data sent by the spacecraft before it retired last December has provided new details about how fast the planet fast rotates and how much it wobbles.

A quartet of cubesats launched in May to monitor the development of tropical storm systems is working just in time to support monitoring of the Atlantic hurricane season.

Payloads: Cold Atom Lab (CAL): CAL science module 3B was installed at its temporary location and powered to maintain the health of the unit. Installation of this science module into CAL is planned for later this year. CAL produces clouds of atoms that are chilled to about one ten billionth of a degree above absolute …

Frontgrade Technologies, a Veritas Capital, announced the acquisition June 8 of Carlsbad, California-based Aethercomm.

Benchmark Space Systems intends to offer satellite operators the type of driver assistance popular in automobiles.

Xenesis is preparing to install an optical communications hub to increase data downlink capacity for customers of Bartolomeo, Airbus’ external research platform on the International Space Station.

There were positives and negatives to be taken away from the test firing.

Following two prior tests of the water deluge system and a spin prime test of Booster 9, SpaceX lit all 33 engines...

Lockheed Martin, a company that for decades has built schoolbus-sized satellites for the U.S. government, opened a new facility to assemble small satellites, which are now in higher demand.

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of August 6-12, 2023 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate are in recess […]

Plans for shifting research from the International Space Station to commercial space stations late this decade are still a work in progress, NASA and industry officials say.

LeoStella announced details about its largest spacecraft yet Aug. 6 with plans to deliver its first two 500-kilogram-class satellites to a commercial radar constellation customer next summer.

Here are some of the stories you may have missed in the past week. The first week of August 2023 featured developments...