A Rocket Lab Electron booster has lifted off from New Zealand, sending 30 small satellites on their way to orbit. It then turned around and parachuted into the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
New-space investment group Voyager Space Holdings is buying the Launch Co., a launch support startup based near Anchorage, Alaska, that has been partnering with other marquee space startups and increasingly the U.S. military.
The FAA next year will begin using live telemetry data from commercial space vehicles to determine the extent of airspace it needs to protect during launch and re-entry operations.
NASA’s third cargo resupply line to the International Space Station, operated by privately owned Sierra Nevada Corp., is delaying the debut launch of its reusable winged Dream Chaser spaceplane until 2022 due to COVID-19 pandemic-related work issues, the company said on Nov. 17.
Launch service operator Arianespace has traced the cause of the Nov. 16 failure of a Vega rocket to an improperly connected electrical harness on the launcher’s Avum engine.
The Vega light launcher, operated by Arianespace, is to place two satellites into orbit on Nov. 16–Taranis, to study electromagnetic phenomena taking place above storms, and Seosat-Ingenio, focused on the observation of Spain’s territory.
Speculation is mounting over what’s next for U.S. human deep-space exploration following the Nov. 3 presidential election, but one noted space historian believes the U.S. will still land on the Moon within 10 years.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 15, sending a Crew Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts on its way to the International Space Station, the first U.S. government-certified flight of a commercially developed crewed orbital transportation system.
NASA and SpaceX are delaying the launch of the resident crew ferry flight to the International Space Station by one day due to expected high winds at the launch site and poor weather for booster recovery at sea.
Aireon on Nov. 12 announced an agreement with the FAA allowing the agency access to its satellite-routed aircraft surveillance data to evaluate different air traffic control applications.
Raytheon Technologies has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Blue Canyon Technologies, a pioneering provider of small satellites and spacecraft systems components, for about $350 million.
Ride-share schemes for small satellites are here to stay and, along with constellations and geostationary spacecraft, will contribute to solid activity in the near term, senior executives of launch service operators say.
Working through unfunded Space Act Agreements with 17 U.S. companies, NASA has selected 20 space technologies it intends to help advance to enable future activities at destinations spanning from low Earth orbit to the Moon and Mars.
Rocket Lab is moving closer to potential reuse of its Electron small satellite launch vehicle, with plans to attempt a parachute recovery of the first stage as part of its next mission, the company said on Nov. 5.
