Space news

Benchmark Space Systems announced plans Aug. 8 to acquire Alameda Applied Science Corp.’s electric propulsion technologies, and to begin offering customers hybrid chemical-electric propulsion systems.

The Aug. 6 maiden flight of India’s newly developed Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) went awry with “some data loss” that occurred in the terminal stage of the mission.

India’s space agency said Sunday the inaugural demonstration flight of the country’s new Small Satellite Launch Vehicle — the fourth rocket in India’s fleet of launchers — failed to place two satellites into their targeted low Earth orbit.

Four smallsats designed to study the solar wind will share a ride to space on a Falcon 9 with a NASA astrophysics mission in 2025.

Ellie In Space is more than a YouTube channel dedicated to SpaceX and space in general. The host, Ellie, has a unique...

As NASA prepares to select the crew of the second Artemis mission, the agency’s chief astronaut says the entire astronaut corps, and not a previously announced subset, is eligible for that flight and future missions to the moon.

After successfully landing on Mars on August 6, 2012 (UTC), Curiosity continues to unlock the secrets of the Red Planet as the vehicle explores Gale Crater. Since landing, the rover has traveled over 17.5 miles (28.1 km) and made multiple scientific discoveries. Curiosity is now in the process of exploring and traversing Mount Sharp, the 5.5-kilometer-high mountain that lies in the center of Gale Crater.

NASA is in talks with the Italian Space Agency to fly an Earth science instrument originally planned to go on a commercial smallsat.

SDA is seeking proposals for a demonstration of laser communications between orbiting satellites and aircraft in flight

Canada’s Telesat is bracing for a revenue hit in 2023 after being forced to retire its Anik F2 satellite from full service three years earlier than planned.

The Federal Communications Commission is considering opening up more Ku-band spectrum to Starlink and other non-geostationary satellite (NGSO) operators to improve broadband speeds.

"We've made a few key decisions."

Despite signs of wear, the intrepid spacecraft is about to start an exciting new chapter of its mission as it climbs a Martian mountain.

The robotic explorers of our Cosmos are truly impressive, as showcased by several spacecraft this week.

A weekly European spaceflight update with exclusive infographics, in-depth analysis, and a review of the week's biggest announcements.

South Korea’s first lunar orbiter has begun its voyage toward the moon on a mission critical to the country’s future space projects.

"Union Carbide most certainly has a contract with Camden."

Chinese private company wants to build a constellation of 80 satellites to provide weather data, further illustrating the growth and scope of China’s commercial space sector.

Virgin Galactic has once again pushed back the start of commercial flights of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane, saying upgrades of its carrier aircraft are taking longer than expected.

India’s space agency will debut a new Small Satellite Launch Vehicle Saturday, adding a fourth member to the company’s rocket fleet. The SSLV’s test flight will take off from Sriharikota Island on India’s east coast with a small Earth observation satellite and a CubeSat from an Indian startup focused on science education.

NASA and Roscosmos reiterated that they expect to continue operations of the International Space Station after 2024 as NASA continues to push for an extension to 2030.

SpaceX has launched South Korea’s first mission to the Moon on Thursday. A flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket launched the Danuri spacecraft from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 7:08 PM EDT (23:08 UTC).

China sent a highly-classified reusable experimental spacecraft into orbit Thursday, two years after a similarly clandestine mission.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the award Aug. 3 of a $15 million contract for cloud services to SAIC and Carahsoft.

Spire Global said Aug. 4 it will host a second Earth-imaging payload for Hancom InSpace, which became the first private South Korean company to operate a commercial satellite mission earlier this year.

"It was very heartening to hear the support across the board of the partnership."

“Selfie” of the Curiosity rover with inset showing the SAM instrument prior to installation on the rover.

NRO Director Scolese said the agency will continue to build large, bespoke satellites but also will increasingly rely on lower cost commercial smallsats

Flying the second of back-to-back launches for the National Reconnaissance Office, Rocket Lab placed a classified U.S. government payload into orbit Thursday after a liftoff from New Zealand. It was the third Electron rocket flight in less than six weeks, the busiest stretch of missions in the Rocket Lab’s history.

An insurance claim for a Malaysian satellite that ran out of fuel prematurely remains unsettled more than a year after the incident.

SES and Intelsat are in active merger talks as a wave of consolidation sweeps over the satellite industry, the Financial Times reported Aug. 4.

Blue Origin launched six more people on a quick, 10-minute flight to suborbital space Thursday from West Texas. A popular YouTuber and the first people from Egyptian and Portugal to fly above the internationally-recognized boundary of space were among the commercial passengers.

The departure at dawn of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Thursday sent aloft the U.S. military’s last Space Based Infrared System missile warning satellite, a $1.2 billion mission billed by the Space Force as a stepping stone to a new generation of more sensitive sentinels in the sky.

Blue Origin launched its New Shepard suborbital vehicle on its sixth crewed flight in a little more than a year Aug. 4, carrying six people that included the first individuals from Egypt and Portugal to go to space.

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit-6 (SBIRS GEO 6) mission for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command lifted off on Aug. 4 at 6:29 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex...

Private equity firm Antarctica Capital has acquired geospatial analytics provider Descartes Labs to support its growing space-based data portfolio.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket carrying a U.S. Space Force missile-warning satellite lifted off Aug. 4 at 6:29 a.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

South Korea’s first mission to the moon lifted off at 7:08 p.m. EDT (2308 GMT) Thursday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch was the second of the day from Florida’s Space Coast, marking the shortest turnaround between launches at Cape Canaveral since 1967.

United Launch Alliance was in action Thursday, using an Atlas V rocket to deploy a missile detection satellite for the US Space Force. Liftoff of the SBIRS GEO 6 mission from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is occurred at the opening of a 40-minute window at 6:29 AM EDT (10:29 UTC).

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket launched a National Reconnaissance Office mission Aug. 4 at 1:00 a.m. Eastern. The NROL-199 mission lifted off from the company’s Launch Complex-1 at Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has become the first in history to launch a spacecraft to the Moon using reused hardware. That spacecraft:...

South Korea’s first moon orbiter launched Thursday from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, heading off on a mission to survey potential lunar landing sites and search for water ice hidden inside shadowed craters near the moon’s poles.

Astra Space announced Aug. 4 it is canceling its existing small launch vehicle after its most recent failure and will focus instead on a much larger vehicle that may not be ready to fly customers until 2024.

Preparations for the first flight of the Space Launch System remain on track for a liftoff as soon as Aug. 29, NASA officials said Aug. 3.

We've still got to wait three years before the first asteroid flyby.

Startup Xona Space Systems has raised around $15 million for its proposed navigation constellation, including funds from GPS satellite maker Lockheed Martin’s venture capital arm.

After a year of solid success with Falcon 9 fairing recovery and reuse, SpaceX has once again started tinkering with the recovery operation.