As their nearly six-month mission to the International Space Station draws to a close, four NASA SpaceX Crew-3 astronauts praised their experience with Axiom-1, the first U.S. all-private astronaut mission to the ISS, and predicted there will be more missions to come.
The Defense Innovation Unit has released a request for information seeking commercial on-orbit satellite refueling and bulk fuel depot ideas as part of its “RAPIDS Refueling and Fuel Depot” project.
Axiom Mission-1's (Ax-1) four private astronauts successfully docked to the International Space Station (ISS) April 9, to begin an eight-day visit filled with medical and scientific research and technology development activities.
The Axiom-1 mission kicks off a series of private astronaut flights to the International Space Station as part of an ongoing effort to expand commercial use and development of low Earth orbit
The Japanese startup said April 6 that it had resolved or mitigated most of the spacecraft anomalies experienced in January that caused it to halt an autonomous capture demonstration in low Earth orbit.
The Ax-1 astronauts will kick off more than two dozen wide-ranging scientific research and technology development activities with value to life on Earth as well as nurturing the space economy.
Sidus Space, a Cape Canaveral startup proffering the LizzieSat—a partially additively manufactured, 100-kg. (220-lb.) low-Earth-orbit satellite—reported 2021 financial results that showed net loss more than doubled while revenue decreased from 2020.
Lift Aircraft has been awarded a Phase 3 contract by the U.S. Air Force’s Agility Prime program to continue experimentation and flight tests of its single-seat HEXA electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
The U.S. Space Force is tracking the development of on-orbit maneuvering and refueling in the commercial industry to inform how the technology could shape its plans for future national security launches.
Major consultancy Accenture on April 6 said it made an unspecified investment in Titan Space Technologies, which is proffering software in support of in-orbit experiments and demonstrations, starting with adaptive immune response, carbon capture and biomedical applications.
SpinLaunch, which conducted its first test flight from its Suborbital Accelerator at Spaceport America last October, has signed a Space Act agreement with NASA to demonstrate its lofting system this year.
The Blue Origin and Sierra Space-led consortium developing the Orbital Reef commercial space station says it is on track to conduct the preliminary design review of the low Earth orbit outpost in 2023 following completion of the systems requirements review.
Astranis Space Technologies plans to launch four of its MicroGEO communication satellites into orbit at once aboard a dedicated SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2023.
The funds will be siphoned into development of the three critical technologies underlying its business case: a new rocket engine, the aircraft shape and leading-edge cooling.
As Russian forces began to substantially build up on the border with Ukraine, the U.S. intelligence community went to commercial satellite imagery providers with a favor to ask.
Rocket Lab will attempt its first midair capture of a returning Electron booster later this month, a key step in the company’s quest to turn what was an expendable small satellite launcher into a partly reusable booster.
