Commercial Space

Quantum Space plans to launch its Scout-1 demonstration spacecraft on the SpaceX Transporter mission as soon as March 2024.

Terran Orbital is walking back its own midterm expectations.

Hon Hai Precision Manufacturing Co. is pivoting to the space economy in a bid to diversify its revenue sources.

Chipmaker Qualcomm is killing its once-touted partnership with Iridium Communications.

Firefly Aerospace’s valuation has reached $1.5 billion following the conclusion of another tranche of financing in its Series C round.

The co-founder and CEO of beleaguered Astra Space is spearheading a proposal to take the rocket launch startup private via a roughly $30 million offer.

A multi-orbit satellite architecture is key to the nation’s quest to “conquer the night.”

It is no surprise that Starship development is moving faster than the regulatory process.

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

Virgin Galactic said late Nov. 8 that it will “pause” Unity spaceplane flights in mid-2024.

The SLC-40 upgrade has been spurred by SpaceX’s plans to launch the Starship Super Heavy from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B, but NASA had concerns.

After four years of assembly and decades of study and planning, Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane is ready for prelaunch environmental testing.

Suborbital space tourism provider Virgin Galactic is laying off workers to fund production of the Delta variant of its spaceships, the company said late Nov. 7.

Nearly 2,000 cubesats have been launched in the past 20 years.

The type, a step down in size from cubesats, is popular for experiments and tech demos.

South Korean automotive engine component supplier Sambo Motors has unveiled a single-seat personal eVTOL vehicle.

Norway’s Andøya Spaceport has opened new facilities to enable satellite launches from the High North of Scandinavia.

China’s iSpace has completed the country’s first test of a reusable rocket, performing a 50-sec. "hop" with the first stage of its Hyperbola-2 launch vehicle.

SpaceX’s internet-beaming Starlink satellite division has reached cash flow breakeven, CEO Elon Musk says.

A new rocket engine for military uses could be repurposed for Mach 9 air travel—listen in as editors talk with the founders of far-out startup Venus Aerospace.

The SwRI's Alan Stern and two other paying passengers joined a Virgin Galactic crew for a short suborbital hop on Nov. 2.

Kuva Space of Finland has raised €16.6 million ($17.6 million) in funding to start building and launching a hyperspectral cubesat constellation.

With this fresh funding round, Skyroot has raised a total of $95 million, top among Indian space startups.

Ovzon of Sweden plans to launch its Ovzon 3 geostationary communications satellite, which has an antenna that can generate steerable spot beams, as soon as December 2023.

Dómhnal Slattery has a new job as chairman of a startup looking to commercialize a centrifuge-based mass accelerator for space access called SpinLaunch.