Space news

Blue Origin expects to launch the first version of its Blue Moon lunar lander, a precursor to a future crewed lunar lander it is developing for NASA, in 2025.

Cork-based startup SUAS Aerospace announced that it has begun efforts to raise €5 million in seed funding. The company plans to use the funding...

One lesson from the war in Ukraine is that it doesn’t matter how many satellites you have if you don’t have enough bombs and bullets

SpaceX is targeting March 14 for the next Starship Orbital Flight Test pending FAA approval. It will be the third flight of the gigantic rocket in less than a year […]

U.S.-based Slingshot Aerospace is opening offices in the United Kingdom to expand its space traffic coordination and analysis business globally.

First you burn the cash, then comes the crash.

Space company Astra will go private in a cut-rate deal with its founders after a dismal run as a publicly-traded stock.

Spacecraft propulsion and launch company Astra Space has accepted a proposal from its founders to take the company private after previously warning its only other alternative was bankruptcy.

The Senate passed the Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2024 yesterday to keep the FAA authorized for another two months instead of expiring tomorrow. The bill also extends the […]

Stoke Space recently carried out the first test of the full-size 30-thruster version of the innovative engine that the company is producing for its in-development second stage. This will be an integral part of its future Nova rocket, which aims to be a fully reusable medium lifter.

The Commerce Department office that licenses commercial remote sensing systems is studying whether it should close a potential loophole in how companies comply with orbital debris mitigation rules.

Payloads: Complement of Integrated Protocols for Human Exploration Research on Varying Mission Durations (CIPHER): This week’s CIPHER testing continued with the performance of Optical Coherence Tomography 2 (OCT2), Pneumotonometry (PTM), and blood pressure measurements. CIPHER consists of 14 studies designed to improve our understanding of physiological and psychological changes in humans on missions that range …

Satellite companies providing internet service to commercial airlines is one of the most mish-mashed sub-sectors of the space industry that I’ve come across over the years. 

SpaceX has begun the final prep work for a third flight of their Starship heavy lift reusable launch vehicle, with March 14 as the currently projected liftoff date, pending approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. The mission aims to demonstrate a number of key objectives for the program, including relighting Raptor engines in space and early payload deployment functionality.

The comet should brighten further as it nears the Sun in the coming weeks.

The startup is developing a satellite interface called ARCap to enable spacecraft to dock with other vehicles

The new service, called Ocean Vision, pairs SAR data with computer vision techniques

The UK government has pledged £10 million in funding to SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland, which is expected to host a maiden orbital launch later...

On December 1, 2023 at 6:19 PM (UTC), the first Italian all-electric satellite “MicroHETSat”, designed and built by SITAEL for the European Space Agency with Italian Space Agency (ASI) support, […]

SpaceX is planning a more ambitious set of in-flight tests of its Starship vehicle on its next launch to demonstrate capabilities needed for launching satellites and going to the moon.

Blue Origin continues to take big steps forward with its New Glenn orbital rocket as hardware rolls out to the launch pad, cryogenic testing begins, and the BE-4 engine gains a new test stand. The company still aims to launch New Glenn at least once in 2024.

The House finally passed the first set of FY2024 appropriations bills today, more than five months after FY2024 began. Six of the 12 regular appropriations bills, including those that fund […]

SpaceX has landed on a potential date for its next Starship test flight: March 14. Starship is SpaceX’s massive rocket that will...

Payloads: Bacterial Adhesion and Corrosion (BAC): The BAC BioCell Habitat was removed from its Space Automated Laboratory Incubator (SALI) location and packed for return on the Crew-7 Dragon. Polymicrobial Biofilm Growth and Control during Spaceflight (Bacterial Adhesion and Corrosion) explores the formation under microgravity conditions of multi-species biofilms, which may behave differently from single-species biofilms. …

As NASA’s planetary science programs face reduced budgets this year and uncertain prospects for next year, advocates in Congress are banding together to build up support for them.

The company’s satellite imagery will be used for vessel detection and monitoring by the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific

A company developing cislunar navigation systems has won a grant to test its technology on an upcoming commercial lunar lander mission.

This third flight has a reasonable chance of success.

The Senate unanimously passed the ORBITS Act for the second time, signaling that it's time to take orbital debris seriously.

Thaicom has ordered a small geostationary satellite from Astranis for a launch in 2025 to provide broadband to some of the most remote and unconnected areas in Asia.

China holds a seemingly positive stance towards the use of space resources, according to a recent submission made by a Chinese delegation to the United Nations.

Exotrail announced March 6 it has successfully deployed a satellite from its first spacevan orbital transfer vehicle.

The European Space Agency has published a call for a study that would examine the feasibility and commercial viability of collecting nighttime remote sensing...

House Speaker Mike Johnson has scheduled House consideration of the first package of FY2024 appropriations bills tomorrow, March 6.  The collection of six bills, called a “minibus,” includes Commerce-Justice-Science that […]

Satellite operators are being called in to help keep Europe and Asia connected after subsea internet cables in the Red Sea were severed last week.

Utilizing the infrared-sensitive instruments of the joint NASA, European Space Agency, and Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope, as well as observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists recently collected the first spectroscopic observations of some of the oldest galaxies in the universe, some of which being born during the first one billion years of the universe.

Crew-8 Dock: SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour, successfully docked to the ISS at 1:28 AM CST. The ISS crew welcomed aboard NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Grebenkin. The ISS crew complement has officially increased from 7 to 11. Payloads: Complement of Integrated Protocols for Human Exploration Research …

Spacecraft manufacturer Apex says its first satellite is alive and well after a launch March 4.

The company won a SpaceWERX Small Business Innovation Research Phase 2 contract

Gen. Stephen Whiting: In the space domain “Moscow will remain a formidable and less predictable challenge to the United States”

The Electro-Optical/Infrared Weather Systems cubesat gets a second chance a year after a previous mission failed to deploy

Achieving NASA's moon-to-Mars (M2M) goals will require a collaborative culture shift among engineering, science, and human spaceflight teams.

The contract was awarded by Axient, a company that manages satellite experiments for the Air Force Research Laboratory

See a galaxy as it was just 430 million years after the Big Bang.

China’s main state-owned contractor plans test flights for two new large diameter reusable rockets in the next couple of years, despite existing commercial reusability efforts.

SpaceX launched more than 50 smallsats on its latest rideshare mission March 4, a service that continues to have strong demand from satellite developers but which also poses space situational awareness challenges.

NASA expects to have a better understanding by this summer of potential commercial partnerships to support future Mars science missions.

The Portuguese government has passed an amendment to its existing Space Law that outlines specific rules for licensing space launch centres within the country’s...

The company is competing in the U.S. Space Force’s Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) Missile Warning and Tracking program

Iridium Communications announced plans March 4 to buy out Satelles, which provides an alternative to GPS via the satellite operator’s L-band network, marking the first acquisition in the 36-year-old company’s history.