Commercial Space

After flying three crews for NASA, SpaceX puts civilians into orbit.

Low Earth orbit is new home of several small-comsat constellations of enormous bandwidth—but no ability to exchange data with each other.

The SpaceX Dragon Resilience splashed down off the coast of Cape Canaveral at 7:06 p.m. EDT, concluding the company’s fourth human spaceflight and first without NASA oversight and NASA astronauts.

SpaceX cannot launch the Starship/Super Heavy vehicle until FAA completes its licensing process, which includes the environmental review and other safety and financial responsibility requirements.

Australia searches for a sovereign military satellite communication system.

Scotland’s Land Court has approved plans to turn crofting land in Northern Scotland into a site for satellite launch.

HySpecIQ, the once and future satellite-powered hyperspectral analytics company, has received an endorsement and funding from defense technology

A SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launched Inspiration4, the first all-civilian, non-government human spaceflight, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, to begin its three-day mission in low Earth orbit.

Recently public Spire Global, a nanosat operator for cloud-enabled data analytics, is buying sat-based S-AIS services startup ExactEarth.

The new satellites join a OneWeb constellation that now numbers 322 spacecraft in low Earth orbit, about half of its initial constellation.

For about five years, Capella’s products have been provided primarily to governments and large research institutions. Now the company is widening the access to a subset of its images.

Private pilot Jared Isaacman and three-member crew train for first all-civilian private space charter, aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

The first of new generation of SpaceX Starlink satellites reached near-polar orbit Sept. 14, adding to growing broadband constellation.

The two parties made the announcement on the opening day of the Defense, Security and Equipment International (DSEI) exposition in London.

Active deorbiting; electric charging; accelerating SAF; and persistent platform.

Virgin Galactic ordered additional inspections after an unidentified vendor contacted the company about a potential problem with its components.

D-Orbit UK is to lead development of a spacecraft “deorbit kit” for the European Space Agency.

The tracking service will use laser ranging to monitor objects in low Earth orbit, offering satellite operators the ability to identify collision threats and maneuver accordingly.

A group of four amateur astronauts poised to become the first privately funded orbital spaceflight crew arrived at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for launch at 8 p.m. EDT on Sept. 15.

The booster flew for more than 2 min. despite losing one of four engines.

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

BlackSky, a small-satellite-based startup providing geospatial intelligence to government agencies and others, will begin trading as a public company Sept. 10 after a successful reverse-merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

As Sierra Space continues final assembly of the Dream Chaser orbital spaceplane ahead of its launch in late 2022, the Colorado-based company is expanding its partnership with Japanese trading corporation Kanematsu to facilitate development of an international commercial economy in low Earth orbit.

The satellites will be launched on five Electron flights scheduled to take place in quick succession over the second quarter of 2023.

Sikorsky, Boeing deliver helo proposal; GE’s second XA100 test; Satellite servicing venture gains steam and South Korean missile test.