Commercial Space

A loose fuel filter doomed the company’s last launch. Then came a bigger problem.

Sierra Space is moving on to tests of its inflatable habitat technology with hard structures inside the pressure shell.

The two-stage, 110-ft.-tall rocket was produced using primarily 3D-printing.

Just six more satellites are needed for full global coverage.

After a controlled burn lasting several minutes from its main propulsion system, ispace’s Hakuto-R Mission 1 lunar lander entered the Moon’s orbit on March 21.

Startup sees SpaceX Starship enabling larger, albeit lower-cost spacecraft.

U.S. space agency will lease the garments, which provide 8 hr. of life support for missions.

Former top Boeing lobbyist Tim Keating has been named head of a new Sierra Space business unit.

The U.S. Commerce Dept. has finished a pilot program to demonstrate the ability of the U.S. to track objects in GEO using commercial data and analytic services.

OneWeb intends to look beyond OneWeb Satellites, which it jointly owns with Airbus, for a manufacturing partner for its next-generation constellation.

Troubled space launch company Virgin Orbit has temporarily suspended operations and furloughed almost all its staff as it continues efforts to seek new funding.

The U.S. Space Force plans to set up an organized reserve of commercial space capabilities to augment military satellites when needed.

Impulse Space is moving into a larger 60,000 ft.2 facility in Redondo Beach, California.

The Space Development Agency (SDA) plans to launch its first batch of satellites, Tranche 0, before the end of March.

Amazon on March 14 unveiled a trio of customer terminals to support the network’s global broadband communications.

The company also announced March 13 that it has an agreement with Rivada Space Networks.

Pale Blue of Tokyo says it successfully demonstrated its water vapor propulsion system in low Earth orbit aboard Sony’s EYE nanosatellite.

Beyond the military realm, the move sets up direct and fierce competition with America’s own commercial space economy.

Magellan Aerospace has won a $15.8 million contract from the Canadian government to design, build, launch and operate a microsatellite.

OneWeb is set to complete its first-generation global broadband network in low Earth orbit with one more flight, slated for later this month.

The Vulcan Centaur rocket was transported on rails from United Launch Alliance’s Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) to Space Launch Complex-41.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

Ispace, which has a lander en route to the Moon, plans to list its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market on April 12.

The U.S. Space Force has selected four startups to reactivate idled launch complexes at Cape Canaveral.

Boeing is interested in offering commercial Space Launch System flight services to the U.S. Space Force.