Commercial Space

By Graham Warwick
Constellation operator OneWeb is to lead a consortium of UK companies in developing a next-generation beam-hopping low Earth orbit communications satellite.
Commercial Space

By Thierry Dubois
The Court of Justice of the European Union has dismissed OHB System’s request to reverse the European Space Agency’s decision to exclude the company from a program creating the second generation of Galileo navigation satellites.
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket delivered the 29th batch of Starlink satellites into orbit on May 26 as the company expanded beta trials of its high-speed internet service to Belgium and the Netherlands.
Commercial Space

By Michael Bruno
Fresh off new venture capital funding, small-rocket, mass-manufacturing startup Phantom Space is aiming to broaden its business model through the recent acquisition of StratSpace, a consultancy and developer of bespoke space systems and flight hardware.
Commercial Space

By Tony Osborne
British spaceports will be able to apply for operating licenses this summer, paving the way for launch from the UK mainland in 2022.
Commercial Space

By Graham Warwick
Propulsive fuselage; Moon connectivity; Klimov’s hybrid-electric design; Lilium Jet networks; certified batteries; and Osaka’s vertiport.
Aircraft & Propulsion

By Lee Hudson, Steve Trimble
U.S. Space Force declassifies program that replaces part of J-Stars mission.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Irene Klotz
With blessings from the U.S. Space Force, United Launch Alliance (ULA) is shifting the first national security space launch (NSSL) mission planned for a Vulcan Centaur rocket onto an Atlas V, buying time to complete two non-NSSL launches which are needed to certify the new booster for military missions.
Commercial Space

By Michael Bruno
Aerojet Rocketdyne has agreed to pay a $37,008 fine to the U.S. government and worked to significantly change its hiring practices to include lawful permanent residents at U.S. sites.
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz, Guy Norris
Potential issues with the WhiteKnightTwo carrier jet for Virgin Galactic’s air-launched SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane have been resolved, clearing the way for the company to resume flight tests as early as May 22, pending weather and technical checks.
Commercial Space

By Michael Bruno
The new three-story building, next to York’s other two buildings, will allow for a fourfold increase in production capacity once fully utilized.
Space

By Maxim Pyadushkin
The next two piloted flights to the International Space Station aboard Russian Soyuz MS spacecraft later this year will be carrying civilians—a film crew first, and later, tourists.
Space

By Michael Bruno
Arqit, a four-year-old British startup aiming to provide quantum encryption for communications, announced May 12 it will become a publicly traded company after a two-step merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz
The former senator pledges a bipartisan approach to the space agency and continued support for commercial space.
Space

By Guy Norris
Rocket Lab is poised to conduct the first of two additional tests of Electron launch vehicles specially modified for reusability which, if successful, could pave the way for the first mid-air recovery of a booster for re-use as early as next year.
Space

By Guy Norris
Virgin Galactic said electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues which stalled sub-orbital tests of its SpaceShipTwo Unity have been resolved but added that the spaceplane’s return to flight could be further delayed by a newly discovered maintenance issue on Eve, the company’s WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft.
Commercial Space

By Michael Bruno
Voyager Space Holdings, the rapidly expanding umbrella startup for new-space companies, has acquired the majority stake in X.O. Markets and its major subsidiary Nanoracks, which recently launched the commercial Bishop airlock to the International Space Station (ISS).
Space

By Jen DiMascio
Boeing and NASA plan to conduct an uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 of the Starliner CST-100 crew capsule at 2:53 p.m. EDT on July 30, pending range approval, the company said May 6.
Commercial Space

By Jen DiMascio
Blue Origin plans to send human crewmembers to suborbital space for the first time on July 20 on its New Shepard rocket, the company said in a May 5 statement.
Commercial Space

By Michael Bruno
Launch vehicle developer Firefly Aerospace has raised $75 million in a Series A venture capital round, the Los Angeles startup announced May 4, while seed investor Noosphere Ventures sold $100 million of its holdings to investors on the sideline.
Commercial Space

By Mark Carreau
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center May 4 on its 26th mission delivering small Starlink internet connectivity satellites in low Earth orbit.
Commercial Space

By Graham Warwick
Startup Eta Space is to demonstrate technologies for propellant depots in space under a NASA contract to build a test payload for launch into low Earth orbit in late 2023 on a Rocket Lab Photon satellite.
Commercial Space

By Mark Carreau
Sierra Nevada Corp.’s (SNC) commercial space enterprise plans to land, service, and launch the company’s winged reusable Dream Chaser from Cape Canaveral on cargo missions to the International Space Station.
Commercial Space

By Michael Bruno
The manufacturer spent January through April and $3 million trying to recover SXM-7 to no avail, and now warns it could push out the timeline for its key Worldview Legion satellite program due to supplier issues.
Space

By Graham Warwick
Satellite inspection service provider HEO Robotics has partnered with Australian in-space transportation startup Space Machines to launch an on-orbit inspection camera in 2022.
Commercial Space