Space news

DENVER – November 29, 2023 – Multiverse Media Inc., a Denver-based integrated media company that recently merged with SpaceNews, announces that it will focus its immediate efforts on growing its […]

SpaceX has acquired Pioneer Aerospace, a renowned leader in spacecraft parachute manufacturing.

Astra Space has successfully raised $2.7 million from existing investors, according to a filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

This week, SpaceX continued its incredible launch cadence with two more launches of Falcon 9, a Soyuz 2.1a resupplied the International Space Station (ISS), and three missions launched consecutively out of China.

Two satellites designed to bring mobile broadband coverage to the Arctic region for civilians and military users have completed key tests ahead of their planned launch next summer.

A Chinese launch vehicle maker appears to have suffered an explosion at a test site at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

84P Undocking: Last night, the Russian cargo vehicle, 84 Progress (84P), undocked from the ISS MRM-2 Zenith port at 1:55 AM CT. The deorbit burn occurred at approximately 5:02 AM CT followed by atmospheric entry and destruction. Progress telemetry was lost at approximately 5:37 AM CT and burn up occurred shortly thereafter. Payloads: Advanced Resistive Exercise …

The Italian Space Agency (ASI) has launched a market research notice to gauge the interest of commercial operators in running the agency’s lunar regolith oxygen extraction mission. Even with the potential for affordable super heavy-lift capabilities offered by launch systems like Starship, in-situ resource utilization will still be a key element of a sustained human […] The post ASI Seeks Commercial Operator for Lunar Oxygen Extraction Mission appeared first on European Spaceflight.

Arcfield, a U.S. defense and intelligence contractor, announced Nov. 29 it has completed its acquisition of Orion Space Solutions, a developer and manufacturer of small satellites and sensor payloads.

Firefly Aerospace has conducted the first hot-fire test of a new engine that will power the company’s future launch vehicles.

This week, Firefly Aerospace announced their first successful hot fire test of their Miranda rocket engine that will be the first stage...

United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Aerojet Rocketdyne have announced a revamped version of the 60-year-old RL10 rocket engine called the RL10C-X will make its inaugural flight on the Vulcan Centaur rocket in 2025.

NASA’s Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan is one step closer to final approval today. A dual-quadcopter that will fly over Titan’s surface, Dragonfly successfully passed a milestone review that […]

Firefly set to launch their next Alpha rocket in December, carrying Lockheed Martin Electronically Steerable Antenna Payload Tech Demo

The Director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division has announced a one-year delay in the launch of the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan.

An industry group says it is opposed to a White House proposal for regulating novel space activities, arguing it could be burdensome and confusing for companies and agencies.

The U.S. Space Force has given Millennium Space Systems the go-ahead to begin production of six satellites that will be deployed in medium Earth orbit to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles.

Citing budget uncertainty, NASA is pushing back the launch of the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan by a year and postponing a key milestone in its development.

Japanese satellite operator Sky Perfect JSAT and an investor in the company that also owns telcos in the country have partnered to sell services from Project Kuiper, Amazon’s broadband constellation set to begin launches next year.

The Space Development Agency for the first time demonstrated space-to-ground data communications from low Earth orbit satellites launched earlier this year.

Payloads: Bio-Monitor: The crew assembled and donned the Bio-Monitor wearable hardware for a 48-hour recording session. Bio-Monitor is a Canadian onboard instrument that serves as a platform for scientific experiments on the ISS. The instrument performs on-orbit monitoring of crew member physiological parameters, with wearable sensors that only minimally interfere with crewmember daily activities. Cerebral …

The next launch by Firefly Aerospace, scheduled for December, will be an electronically steerable antenna payload designed by Lockheed Martin for a technology demonstration.

A new version of a 60-year-old rocket engine, with performance and cost improvements, is expected to make its debut in 2025 on the Vulcan Centaur rocket.

2023 has been a remarkable time for international spaceflight, but spaceflight does not exist in a vacuum beyond geopolitics, and while some achievements can be hailed on the international stage, others are the grounds for concern and suspicion. This fact is reflected well by the recent launch of a North Korean satellite. The launch was North Korea’s first successful satellite launch since 2016, and followed two identical attempts earlier this year, both of which failed.

The European Space Agency and MT Aerospace have successfully completed an initial test campaign of a fuel tank that will be utilized aboard an ungraded Ariane 6 upper stage. With the aim of increasing the performance of the Ariane 6 launch vehicle, work on the Innovative Carbon ARiane Upper Stage (Icarus) began in May 2019. […] The post Ariane 6 Upper Stage Upgrade Passes First Testing Milestone appeared first on European Spaceflight.

Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, who has spearheaded Pentagon efforts to bring cutting-edge technology into defense programs, is overseeing the military’s first commercial space integration strategy.

The Defense Information Systems Agency on Nov. 22 published a request for proposals for low Earth orbit satellite-based services.

This unusual view of the horizon of Mars was captured by NASA’s Odyssey orbiter using its THEMIS camera, in an operation that took engineers three months to plan. It’s taken from about 250 miles above the Martian surface – about the same altitude at which the International Space Station orbits Earth.

Payloads: Actiwatch-Plus: Actiwatch Plus devices were connected to the Human Research Facility-1 (HRF-1) Payload Drawer on the HRF-1 Rack for data downlink and charging. The Actiwatch-Plus is a waterproof, non-intrusive, sleep-wake activity monitor worn on the wrist of a crewmember and contains a miniature uniaxial accelerometer that produces a signal as the subject moves. The …

The European Space Agency has avoided an early end to its CryoSat mission after a fuel leak was detected aboard the satellite. CryoSat was launched aboard a Dnepr rocket from Baikonur in April 2010. The satellite’s mission is dedicated to measuring the thickness of polar ice and monitoring ice sheets that blanket Antarctica and Greenland. […] The post ESA’s Long-Serving CryoSat Satellite Avoids Early End to its Mission appeared first on European Spaceflight.

China is progressing with a program to develop full-flow staged-combustion-cycle methane engines to power its reusable Long March 9 super heavy-lift launcher.

Launch vehicle and spacecraft propulsion company Astra Space raised $2.7 million from investors as it continues to work on a long-term funding deal that could take the company private.

Steve Jurczyk, a former NASA official who briefly led the agency as acting administrator in 2021 before going into the private sector, died Nov. 23 of cancer. He was 61.

After repeated delays, the European Ariane 6 rocket has completed a crucial hotfire test of its Vulcain 2.1 engine, one of the final key steps in preparing the vehicle for its maiden launch in the coming year. This test brings Europe one step closer to reinstating domestic launch capability, and hopefully cementing themselves back on the leaderboard in the launch market.

Located throughout the universe, there are billions — possibly even trillions — of exoplanets orbiting around stars of varying shapes, sizes, colors, and more. Like the stars they orbit, exoplanets also come in many different shapes, sizes, and colors, with scientists classifying exoplanets into one of four groups: gas giants, super-Earths, sub-Neptunes, and terrestrial.

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the week of November 26-December 2, 2023 and any insight we can provide about them. The House and Senate are in […]

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions has received an eight-year extension to a contract it has held since 2002.

Steve Jurczyk, whose 32-year NASA career saw him rise to the very top of agency leadership, died on Thanksgiving Day from pancreatic cancer. He was 61. Jurczyk became NASA’s top […]

I’ve been chasing rockets for over 7 years now. Last Saturday I witnessed my 83rd one, and while it wasn’t my first time visiting Starbse by any means, I think I can easily say it was the most inspirational rocket chasing expedition that I have ever undertaken. Integrated Flight Test 2 was the most incredible and humbling spaceflight event I have ever witnessed.

For only the second time, VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic’s suborbital space plane, was transformed into a science laboratory. Galactic 05 successfully completed its mission on Nov. 2, but for Kellie Gerardi, Galactic 05 crewmember and Virgin Galactic Astronaut 021, the training and preparation for the flight goes back almost a decade. She sat down with NSF to detail what it takes to conduct commercial suborbital research.

Thales Alenia Space has been awarded an Italian Space Agency (ASI) contract to continue the development of its Multi-Purpose Habitat, which the agency hopes will be the first permanent outpost on the Moon. In September 2020, ASI and NASA signed a joint statement of intent to cooperate to advance the goals of the Artemis programme. […] The post ASI Awards Contract to Continue Development of Moon Base appeared first on European Spaceflight.

Payloads: Boeing Environment Responding Antimicrobial Coatings (Antimicrobial Coatings): The crew performed a routine periodic touching of the six experiment placards deployed in various locations throughout the ISS.  These placards will remain deployed for approximately four months and will be touched regularly by the crew as part of the investigation. Boeing Environment Responding Antimicrobial Coatings tests …

When Leonardo Da Vinci first dreamed of flight in the 15th century, it would have been near inconceivable to him that his namesake would make it to the stars – but that’s exactly what’s happened. The Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gasses, Chemistry, and Imaging, or DAVINCI mission, is a groundbreaking new approach to studying Earth’s sister planet, one which truly embodies the polymath’s ideology of revolutionary new ideas. DAVINCI will carry his legacy to the cosmos, employing new ideas to study Earth’s strange sister.

The European Space Agency has successfully completed a full-duration hot fire test of an Ariane 6 core stage. The final major milestone left on the road to the vehicle’s maiden flight is a hot fire test of the rocket’s second stage, which is expected to take place next month. Combined testing of Ariane 6 and […] The post ESA Completes Full-Duration Ariane 6 Hot Fire Test appeared first on European Spaceflight.

The European Space Agency conducted a long-duration firing of an Ariane 6 prototype Nov. 23, one of the final tests before the agency is ready to set a date for the rocket’s inaugural launch.

Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket appeared to take another step forward today. ESA declared the full duration firing of the core stage engine a success. European officials have been waiting […]

POLARIS Spaceplanes has successfully ignited its 1kN AS-1 aerospike rocket engine that will power its MIRA demonstrator. MIRA is 4.3 metres long and is powered by four jet engines and one rocket engine. MIRA is a subscale demonstrator of the company’s AURORA multipurpose spaceplane and hypersonic transport system. Once operational, AURORA will be capable of […] The post POLARIS Spaceplanes Begins Testing its AS-1 Rocket Engine appeared first on European Spaceflight.

China sent an undisclosed number of satellites into orbit Thursday to test satellite internet technologies.

"I conclude the objects are the spy satellite and the rocket upper stage."

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has selected Joshua Kutryk to serve on the Starliner-1 crew, a upcoming long duration ISS mission.