Space

Space economy venture-capital investments rose 17% year-on-year to $3 billion across 103 companies in the third quarter of 2023.

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is working to address recent concerns about cost and technical challenges associated with a Mars Sample Return mission.

The chief of space operations has pressed for a review and changes to an anticipated strategy for how the Pentagon uses commercial space capabilities.

NASA has conducted the first of 12 ground-test firings to certify the upgraded Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engine for the Space Launch System rocket.

Berkeley Space Center, unveiled Oct. 16, could see employment for more than 6,000 researchers and developers in astronautics, quantum computing and more.

SpaceX says the FAA’s review process, exacerbated by a technical staff shortfall , has left it waiting for a month to launch an integrated Starship-Super Heavy.

NASA has announced another rescheduling as well as a resequencing of a pair of International Space Station (ISS) spacewalks.

Arms exports topped $17.3 billion for South Korea in 2022, smashing the previous yearly record of $7 billion, set in 2021.

Space companies have an opportunity to think through the environmental impact of their booming industry.

The first all-European private astronaut crew is working toward a planned 14-day visit aboard the ISS to carry out science and technology investigations.

Blue Origin's Blue Ring can host and/or deploy 1,100-lb.-class satellites on a dozen generic ESPA and ESPA Grande ports.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio is feeling good and so far pleased with how his body is responding to Earth’s gravity after a U.S. record-setting 371 days in space.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket making a debut mission for NASA sent the Psyche spacecraft on a mission to explore a planetary body made mostly of metal.

NASA’s IG is calling for the agency to execute a more aggressive contract transition strategy as it works to reduce the cost of future SLS rocket production.

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

Proteus Space, a startup satellite developer, closed a $4.2 million seed round to create an automated, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered system to design ESPA-class satellites in 30 days.

The company plans to develop a fully autonomous docking system for the Cygnus.

NASA has postponed a pair of International Space Station spacewalks planned for Oct. 12 and Oct. 20 due to a coolant leak.

Samples from the asteroid Bennu returned to Earth less than three weeks ago by NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission already are paying scientific dividends.

Planet Labs has delivered its Pelican-1 Earth imaging satellite to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California ahead of a planned launch in November.

Amazon becomes a satellite operator.

Azerbaijan has agreed to join the China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) program.

A pair of privately owned Iranian cubesats are slated to launch as secondary payloads aboard a Russian Soyuz-2 rocket in December.

The National Reconnaissance Office plans to quadruple the number of satellites it has in orbit.

An external coolant leak from a backup radiator on the International Space Station’s Russian segment Nauka multipurpose laboratory module has ceased.