Commercial Space

Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and pediatric cancer survivor, will fly along with entrepreneur and pilot Jared Isaacman on a chartered SpaceX Crew Dragon flight.

Northrop Grumman’s 15th NASA contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) was on track to rendezvous with the six-person

BlackSky, a startup with a burgeoning constellation of imaging satellites and its own data analytics service, will become a publicly traded company.

Soyuz rockets may again begin launching civilians to the ISS.

Launch services provider Spaceflight Inc. has purchased NewSpace India Ltd.’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle to launch Spaceflight’s largest spacecraft to date at the end of February from Sriharikota, India.

Iceland’s air navigation service provider Isavia ANS announced Feb. 17 that it has implemented satellite-based surveillance of aircraft in its airspace.

Axiom Space will speed the growth of its workforce and construction of the world’s first commercial space station with a $130 million infusion.

SpaceX delivered 60 more of its Starlink broadband satellites into orbit on Feb. 16 though it lost the first stage booster during a failed landing attempt, breaking its string of 24 successful touchdowns.

Two co-founders of Slingshot Aerospace, a startup that aimed to provide data analytics from airborne and space-based platforms, are swapping the CEO title while the company consolidates its business plan around its Slingshot Orbital space traffic control product.

Lockheed Martin envisages 2022 debut launch for UK Pathfinder satellite mission, but so does the competition.

The Pentagon has disclosed that two DARPA satellites scheduled to launch on the Transporter-1 mission were damaged during payload processing.

Russia wants to renew its space tourism activities by offering dedicated commercial missions to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Soyuz rockets.

Its ride-share program challenges current economics and boosts the need for in-space propulsion.

Telesat has awarded a $3 billion contact to Thales Alenia Space to build its planned 298-member low Earth orbit broadband constellation, named Lightspeed.

Swarm, a low-cost satellite communications network company selling data from space for less than the cost of a Netflix subscription, is now available for commercial use.

British flat-panel satellite antenna systems maker Isotropic Systems, already a recipient of Boeing and venture capital funds, has landed at least $40 million more and plans to double in size as it races toward commercial rollout.

Lockheed Martin is to use a launcher provided by ABL Space Systems for its planned Pathfinder launch from the UK.

OHB System has filed a lawsuit with the Court of Justice of the European Union against the European Commission’s decision to exclude the company from a program creating the second generation of Galileo navigation satellites.

Company debuts dedicated ride-share service, undercutting pricing again.

Firefly Aerospace has won a $93.3 million NASA task order to provide 10 science and technology payloads in 2023 to help the space agency prepare for human missions to the Moon.

SpaceX on Feb. 4 launched its 18th mission to deliver Starlink broadband satellites into low Earth orbit, with another batch of 60 spacecraft poised for launch on Feb. 5.

Orbital Sidekick, a San Francisco-based startup aiming to offer satellite-based hyperspectral imaging and data analytics for the energy sector and others, has finalized operation plans for its Global Hyperspectral Observation Satellite (GHOSt) constellation that is set to launch this year on a SpaceX Falcon 9.

Sat-based 5G Service Startup Omnispace Lands $60M In VC Omnispace, a Washington, D.C.-area startup aiming to provide satellite-based 5G connectivity for the Internet of Things market, announced a $60 million venture capital round and looks to enter service by the end of 2022.

Fresh off finally achieving a successful test launch and aiming for daily launches of small satellites, Astra will become a publicly traded company after a takeover by a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) backed by veteran telecommunications entrepreneur Craig McCaw.

Jeff Bezos, one of the richest people ever and founder of the category-killing online business Amazon, said he will hand over the CEO title to Andy Jasse and become executive chairman of the business behemoth.