Commercial Space

By Mark Carreau
The data will assist with understanding how spaceflight affects human physical and mental health.
Commercial Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA management disagrees with a conclusion reached by the agency’s inspector general (IG) in a report issued Nov. 30.
Space

By Thierry Dubois
Airbus has already started using its latest-generation Pleiades Neo Earth-observation satellites.
Space

By Graham Warwick
“This latest round of funding will dramatically accelerate our ability to make on-orbit servicing routine by 2030,” Astroscale founder and CEO Nobu Okada said.
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz
The eldest daughter of Alan Shepard, the first American to venture into space, will fly on the Blue Origin suborbital spacecraft named after her father, the company said on Nov. 23.
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz
Astra Space, a California-based startup staking a claim in the burgeoning small-satellite launch business, completed a successful flight test of its Rocket 3.1 booster on Nov. 20, a mission backed by the U.S. Space Force.
Commercial Space

By Michael Bruno
Voyager Space, a private equity-backed holding company of new-space upstarts such as Nanoracks, announced Nov. 22 it has acquired a majority stake in Space Micro, a satellite communications specialist for NASA and the U.S. military.
Commercial Space

By Graham Warwick
Astroscale’s docking port; Synthetic avgas; Kinetic launch; Next-gen gyroplane; Blood delivery by UAS.
Emerging Technologies

By Mark Carreau
Northrop Grumman’s 16th NASA-contracted Cygnus resupply mission capsule departed the International Space Station on Nov. 20, ending a stay of just more than three months and setting up an experiment intended to improve the modeling of spacecraft thermal protection systems.
Commercial Space

By Graham Warwick
Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Aerospace

By Guy Norris
Sierra Space’s expansive goal of developing a space transport and habitation ecosystem has received a major boost with the successful raising of a $1.4 billion Series A capital investment.
Commercial Space

By Brian Everstine, Irene Klotz
Test adds more than 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital debris.
Space

By Irene Klotz
SpaceX plans about a dozen flights of its super heavy-lift, reusable Starship launch system in 2022, beginning with an orbital flight test in January or February.
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket deployed a pair of Earth-observation satellites into orbit for BlackSky on Nov. 17, a mission that also tested helicopter operations for future midair booster recoveries.
Commercial Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA has selected Intuitive Machines for the integration, delivery and operational oversight of four science payloads to the Moon’s Reiner Gamma in 2024 using the company’s Nova-C lander under a $77.5 million fixed-price contract.
Commercial Space

By Bill Carey
Two satellite giants are joining forces to further strengthen their position in airline connectivity, but also to exploit space augmentation of terrestrial 5G and communications for unmanned aerial vehicles, air taxis and delivery drones.
Commercial Space

By Graham Warwick
Mass drivers are a stock in trade in science fiction, a cheap and energy-efficient way to get payloads off a planet or Moon.
Commercial Space

By Michael Bruno
Los Angeles-based Inversion, a space startup focusing on the return-to-Earth side of operations, has closed its $10 million seed round, the company announced Nov. 16.
Commercial Space

By Michael Bruno
When there are space-related accidents on Earth, which there will be as the space economy grows, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board wants to be ready with codified procedures for investigating, according to a new announcement from officials.
Commercial Space

By Graham Warwick
Satellite servicing startup Astroscale has unveiled a docking plate it hopes will become standard on all future low Earth orbit satellites to enable their capture and removal from orbit.
Commercial Space

By Mark Carreau
The airless lunar environment will require some customized assessments by those inspired to initiate scientific inquiries or invest in the commercial ventures that NASA hopes will help it establish a sustained human presence at the Moon. This is where Houston’s Aegis Aerospace believes it could become game changing.
Space

By Bill Carey
Why satcom providers Viasat and Inmarsat are combining to expand service offerings and meet rising competition in the sector.
Commercial Space

By Molly McMillin
In a search to add suppliers to help it build rockets, United Launch Alliance visited Wichita aerospace suppliers Nov. 10, accompanied by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas).
Commercial Space

By Bill Carey
Satellite operator Iridium announced on Nov. 10 that its Certus 100 satellite communications service is now commercially available for aviation and other applications.
Commercial Space

By Graham Warwick
Boeing-backed startup demonstrates first multi-orbit, multi-link satcom connectivity.
Commercial Space