Commercial Space

Dawn Aerospace has run a full-duration, bipropellant ground test of its Mk-II Aurora spaceplane’s rocket engine.

True Anomaly, a startup developing spacecraft for space domain awareness missions, has raised $100 million in a Series B round of funding.

United Launch Alliance conducted a practice launch countdown, including fueling, of its new Vulcan-Centaur rocket on Dec. 12.

Orbit Fab and ispace have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on developing rocket propellants from lunar resources.

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

With the Ariane 6 seeing progress at last and Avio leaving Arianespace, the European Space Agency takes steps toward a competition for Europe’s future launchers.

Space launch activity reached an all-time high in 2023, but public new-space company valuations remain pressured.

Former NASA chief Dan Goldin oversaw creation of the station. What does he think of it now? Listen in to find out.

Major technical issues with the behind-schedule Ariane 6 have been resolved and the schedule has been stabilized, ESA says.

The U.S. will need to make more spacecraft more quickly and less expensively.

NASA soon intends to lift the curtain on a whole new strategy of turning to America’s private sector for the launch of a lunar lander.

Major technical risks were retired by the performance of SpaceX’s Super Heavy rocket.

Weak, angled signals from global navigation satellite system satellites are spawning new applications.

The agency cited the challenges in a Nov. 20 NASA Advisory Council session.

GPS has become a household term over the last 50 years. Over the coming decades, it is likely to be subsumed into another three-letter term, PNT.

SpaceX's Super Heavy booster unexpectedly broke apart after separation from Starship, which was subsequently also lost when its automated flight termination system triggered.

Sierra Space has laid off 165 full-time employees in addition to contractors after it shipped the company’s first Dream Chaser spaceplane for prelaunch tests.

Launch of the second integrated flight test of SpaceX’s Starship/Super Heavy vehicle was rescheduled for Nov. 18.

Carol Craig, founder and CEO of Sidus, announced the move while reporting third-quarter 2023 financial results on Nov. 14.

How much has GPS boosted U.S. businesses? The answer is astronomical.

The two companies have signed a “10-plus-year agreement” for use of the software on the 198-satelite constellation.

The Midland, Texas-based startup still needs to raise more money to build out its constellation beyond the initial five satellites.

SpaceX is targeting launch of its second Starship-SuperHeavy vehicle on Nov. 17 from Boca Chica Beach, Texas.

A White House official says U.S. space regulations—developed decades ago—were crafted when commercial space capabilities were limited.

The “father of GPS” on how the system came to be and the hurdles it needs to overcome to remain at the cutting edge.