Commercial Space

The U.S. Space Force plans to award a sole-source contract to Blue Origin for early integration studies for upcoming NSSL missions.

Benefits of bulk buys; VC-25 replacement delayed; Embraer’s European pitch; and Boeing to fly new prototype on WGS-11 satellite.

Ispace of Japan plans to attempt touching down on the Moon with its Hakuto-R Mission 1 lunar lander as soon as April 25.

The update comes after Relativity Space’s mostly 3D-printed Terran 1 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral on March 22 but failed to reach orbit.

The startup obtained Google’s Project Loon technology to coordinate satellite communications.

Boeing has delivered its third and fourth O3b mPOWER satellites to communications company SES.

SpaceX says its Starship/Super Heavy space transportation system is ready for its first orbital flight test once the FAA issues a launch license.

The Ranger is also designed to deploy Quantum Space’s Scout vehicles, satellites the company wants to distribute throughout cislunar space.

International experts begin work on space standards to secure spacecraft.

Space transport startup Dawn Aerospace plans to begin gradual envelope expansion flights of its suborbital Mk-2 Aurora spaceplane.

Startup Loft Orbital has doubled its order from Airbus OneWeb Satellites to 30 spacecraft, the company said April 6.

Richard Branson’s launch venture ran out of cash. Could a buyer pick up the valuable pieces?

The tests in the ACE Climatic Wind Tunnel at Ontario Tech University focused on the transition between vertical and horizontal flight.

Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart says the "Chapter 11 process represents the best path forward to identify and finalize an efficient and value-maximizing sale.”

The Pentagon’s SDA model is to launch large numbers of small satellites to low Earth orbit at about 1,000-km altitude.

Virgin Orbit will be laying off around 85% of its staff by April 3, the company announced after failing to secure “meaningful” funding.

Momentum for in-space servicing, space logistics and manufacturing is building.

The U.S. Space Development Agency is poised to test its small-satellite constellation.

Halo Space of Madrid plans a second flight test of its stratospheric tourist balloon capsule in the “first semester of 2023.”

Space-based connectivity provider SES confirmed it was in talks with U.S. rival Intelsat, marking the latest tie-up of satellite system providers.

Thales Alenia Space has won contracts to supply synthetic aperture radar and optical satellites for IRIDE, the hybrid Italian Earth observation constellation.

Once deployed, the satellites will boost the OneWeb Gen-1 constellation well past the 588 spacecraft needed for global coverage.

A Blue Origin New Shepard suborbital booster failed during an uncrewed Sept. 12 launch due to structural fatigue on the engine nozzle.

Russia plans to launch its first civil radar observation satellite–Kondor-FKA–on May 27.

Dawn Aerospace’s Mk-II Aurora spaceplane has received an aircraft certification from the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand.