A wave of space startups suddenly going public in SPAC deals is revving up an already excited sector. But one of them is ahead of others and is about to take another giant leap.
Nine hours after a SpaceX team in Texas landed a full-scale Starship prototype for the first time, colleagues in Florida launched a Falcon 9 rocket with 60 more satellites for the company’s high-speed internet service system.
SpaceX’s March 3 high-altitude test of a full-scale Starship prototype managed a soft landing—unlike two previous test vehicles—but then exploded 3 min. after touching down at the company’s facility in Boca Chica Beach, Texas.
Thales Alenia Space (TAS) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed the expected contract for six satellites in the second generation of the EU’s Galileo navigation constellation, after the Court of Justice of the European Union lifted a suspension.
Startup Venus Aerospace plans to proceed with the development, testing and production of a small hypersonic aircraft capable of transporting a dozen passengers or time-critical payloads between major continental destinations in an hour.
Spire Global, a Luxembourg-registered nanosatellite operator for cloud-enabled data analytics, will become a publicly traded company after a reverse-merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that has been hunting for aerospace and defense targets, NavSight Holdings.
Rocket Lab will become a publicly traded company with $750 million in cash to develop a new medium-lift launcher, grow its end-to-end space business including through acquisitions, and continue to target U.S. government customers.
Virgin Galactic does not expect to resume flight tests of its suborbital passenger vehicle until May due to potential electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues from a new flight control computer, CEO Michael Colglazier said during a Feb. 25 call with investors.
With growing activity in cislunar space and lunar orbit, there is growing interest in using the weak and intermittent signals that are available from existing GNSS constellations for positioning and timing.
Blue Origin is targeting the fourth quarter of 2022 for the first flight of its reusable orbital New Glenn launch system, a delay of about one year, the company said on Feb. 25.
Weather service startup ClimaCell on Feb. 24 declared its intent to launch and operate a constellation of small satellites in the coming years to power its aspiration of becoming “the largest weather enterprise in the world.”
NASA is reviewing updated proposals from three companies vying for funding to continue development of human lunar landing systems for the Artemis program and expects to select two programs for Option A follow-on contracts “within the next few weeks,” Mark Kirasich, deputy associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said on Feb. 24.
The buildup of Launch Complex 36 (LC36) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for Blue Origin’s upcoming New Glenn reusable orbital booster is nearing completion, Scott Henderson, vice president of test and flight operations, said Feb. 23.
Redwire, a busy private equity funded space rollup, announced Feb. 23 it had acquired Deployable Space Systems, a provider of deployable solar arrays, structures and mechanisms for space applications.
After delays due to a launch failure and the COVID-19 crisis, Avio is proceeding with the development of an upgraded version of its light launcher, Vega C, planning on a three-year transition over 2021-24.
Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and pediatric cancer survivor, will fly along with entrepreneur and pilot Jared Isaacman on a chartered SpaceX Crew Dragon flight.
Launch services provider Spaceflight Inc. has purchased NewSpace India Ltd.’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle to launch Spaceflight’s largest spacecraft to date at the end of February from Sriharikota, India.
Iceland’s air navigation service provider Isavia ANS announced Feb. 17 that it has implemented satellite-based surveillance of aircraft in its airspace.
