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.
The Space Development Agency wants to ensure that all bidders will have an equal shot at awards under the upcoming Tranche 1 Tracking Layer decision, though another recent SDA award has shown the “optics” of incumbents getting a leg up.
The largest commercial procurement of launch vehicles in history has seen Amazon sign contracts for a fleet of up to 83 heavy-lift launchers to send its Kuiper constellation into orbit.
Employment in the core U.S. space industry workforce is at a 10-year high, climbing past 2011’s last peak of 149,818 to reach 151,797, according to preliminary 2021 U.S. data cited by the Space Foundation on April 4.
Astra Space, a small rocket startup that became a publicly traded company last year via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) but which has struggled with successful missions, plans to add turnkey satellite busses to its offering in 2023.
Predictions about an increase in attacks on space capabilities made over the last five years are proving true, say a pair of new reports issued by Washington, D.C.-based think tanks April 4.
Launch of the privately funded Axiom Space-1 mission to the International Space Station was delayed to no earlier than April 8, leaving little margin for Axiom’s planned 10-day excursion before NASA puts priority on launching the next resident station crew.
