Commercial Space

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

Ahead of NASA’s selection of up to four proposals to support development of commercial space stations, a team led by Nanoracks unveiled plans on Oct. 21 for a four-person outpost called Starlab, with initial operational capability expected by 2027.

Science fiction becomes science fact as iconic Star Trek actor flies in space.

Actor returns from spaceflight deeply touched by experience.

The Australian location will provide good coverage of launch corridors from East Asia, and improve space coverage in the Southern Hemisphere.

Rocket Lab will attempt a controlled ocean splashdown and recovery of the Electron small satellite launcher earmarked for flight next month, the company said on Oct. 19.

Boeing is nearing the end of a winding technical analysis of a valve problem that scotched plans for an uncrewed orbital flight test of its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft in August.

U.S. Air Force experiments with satellite to augment GPS.

Axiom Space, which is working with NASA to develop a commercial successor to the International Space Station, announced this week the completion of three joint design reviews for the project.

The partnership enables the two entities to partner on research and development opportunities, promoting U.S. space industry growth.

The venture capital and private equity firehose fueling space startups continues unabated.

Startup Space Perspective announced a $40 million venture capital fund raising on Oct. 14, claiming the largest round yet for a space tourism balloon company and coming months after a successful demonstration.

Satellite broadband provider OneWeb has successfully placed more than half of its constellation into low Earth orbit following the 11th launch of its campaign from Vostochny spaceport in Russia’s Far East at 5:40 a.m. EDT Oct. 14.

More than 50 years after portraying the fictional captain of Star Trek’s USS Enterprise, actor William Shatner joined two paying passengers and a Blue Origin vice president for the company’s second crewed flight to suborbital space.

The customer slated to launch on the first flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket now expects to fly in mid-2022.

Major small-satellite launcher Rocket Lab is making good on plowing some of its new publicly provided cash haul into bolt-on acquisitions.

Airbus has started production of the UK’s new £500 million ($679.5 million) Skynet 6A satellite, which is due for launch in 2025.

UK space launch startup Skyrora has signed agreements to use the SaxaVord spaceport on the Shetland Islands for satellite launch as early as 2022.

OneWeb and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) have signed a letter of intent to fly OneWeb broadband satellites aboard Indian’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and the heavier-lift Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle from India beginning next year.

Power to fuel; Electric fans; Satcom for autonomy; Advancing fuel cells; and Solar-powered autonomy.

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

CAES, the former Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions now under private equity, has announced construction of its new additive manufacturing (AM) operations in Exeter, New Hampshire, for the 3D-printed radio frequency (RF) products partnership that the U.S. company unveiled earlier this year with SWISSto12.

Muon’s small satellites will focus on dense, scientific-grade measurements of the atmosphere, ocean, and land processes.

Inmarsat and U.S. startup Xwing have signed a memorandum of understanding to pursue development of a dedicated satellite communications terminal and associated services for autonomous aircraft.

The upgrades should help prevent issues encountered during previous flights, including a debris strike that damaged a drogue parachute used during the descent of the Crew-1 mission in May.