The Space Flight Laboratory deorbited its CanX-7 demonstration nanosatellite using four drag sails in April, five years after the sails were deployed and significantly sooner than it would have deorbited naturally.
SpaceX has some more work to do before it will receive U.S. clearance to launch Starship on an orbital flight test from Boca Chica Beach, Texas, the FAA has determined in its long-awaited study assessing the program’s environmental impacts.
NASA’s gamble on a startup launch company to deliver a pair of novel hurricane-probing cubesats into orbit got off to a rough start on June 12 after the upper stage of an Astra 3.3 rocket shut down early, dooming the first two members of the agency’s Tropics constellation.
Lockheed Martin has added Australian small satellite-maker Inovor Technologies under the so-called Hosted Missions Program for the JP9102 military satellite project.
The Russian government has cleared state-owned Roscosmos to sign a long-delayed agreement with NASA for cosmonauts to fly on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsules in exchange for astronauts joining Russian Soyuz crews.
Startup propulsion company Ursa Major announced June 2 that it is offering a 200,000 lb. thrust liquid oxygen and methane staged-combustion rocket engine called Arroway.
The U.S. Navy has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with Kleos Space to provide radio frequency geolocation data as part of an experiment.
Sierra Space and Spirit AeroSystems have signed a strategic partnership to improve production efficiency and assembly of Sierra Space’s Shooting Star cargo module. The letter of intent covers the development and production of future Shooting Star cargo modules. Sierra Space and Spirit AeroSystems will also work together to find ways to speed up the time it takes to bring Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser family of spaceplanes to market, the companies said on May 31.
Astroscale will build its Elsa-M satellite servicer for European customers and perhaps others with the goal of a late-2024 launch after a €14.8 million ($15.9 million) infusion via a European Space Agency and OneWeb alliance.
Space Systems Command on May 26 ordered eight launches from United Launch Alliance and SpaceX under the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 procurement program.
SpaceX continued its weekly launch pace with liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket on May 25 carrying 59 small satellites and hosted payloads, marking the company’s fifth rideshare mission. Following launch at 2:35 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the rocket’s first stage returned to the launch site while the upper stage fired to place the Transporter-5 payloads into a preliminary polar orbit.
Axiom Space and Italy’s minister for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition have signed a memorandum of understanding to advance existing collaboration, the Houston-based firm announced May 25.
Another lunar buggy contender is emerging, this time with an autonomous explorer angle: Lunar Outpost on May 24 unveiled a $12 million seed round, promising a new class of autonomous Moon rovers.
The Outpost Mars Demo-1 payload, an on-orbit metal cutting robotic arm, is being prepared to launch aboard SpaceX’s Transporter 5 rideshare flight on May 25.
Satcom Direct (SD) is nearing commercial introduction of its Plane Simple Antenna System supporting inflight broadband connectivity for business aviation using the Intelsat FlexExec network.
Satellite operator Inmarsat and equipment supplier Honeywell have launched SwiftJet, an enhanced L-band satcoms service for business aviation, at EBACE 2022.
The new inflight broadband service for bizjets will access OneWeb’s constellation using a new electronically steered antenna (ESA) that Gogo has designed in conjunction with Hughes Network Systems.
The uncrewed Starliner flight test is part of a joint NASA-Boeing program to develop crew transportation services to the ISS and future destinations in low Earth orbit.
