Space

Today’s satellites are cheaper, but hardly cheap. The CEO of a propulsion supplier joins us to explain why.

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

Earth Observation company Planet is developing a new satellite it calls “Owl” to provide near-daily, 1-meter class imagery, the company announced Oct. 7.

The U.S. Air Force will need at least a decade to adopt new technology that can facilitate dynamic spectrum-sharing, Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, the service chief of staff nominee, said Oct. 9.

The U.S. Space Force expects to launch the next Space Development Agency (SDA) mission on Oct. 14 from Vandenberg SFB, California, with six backup windows available, Space Launch Delta (SLD) 30 said Oct. 8.

NASA has contracted Momentus to use its Vigoride orbital service vehicle as a testbed to demonstrate a rotating detonation rocket engine in space in 2026.

Stoke Space has raised $510 million in a Series D funding round led by US Innovative Technology Fund (USIT).

Dark, a French startup developing a vehicle for the capture of low-Earth-orbit objects, has ceased operations, the company announced Oct. 8.

The defense prime sees new business opportunities for NASA’s deep-space capsule.

The U.S. Space Force has awarded space remote sensing company Muon Space a multi-million-dollar weather monitoring contract.

Every year a consultancy publishes a new 10-year forecast of satellite launches, and the estimate grows to previously unbelievable totals.

Russian uncrewed aircraft maker Geoscan has revealed plans to launch satellite constellations for Earth mapping and communication services.

Liftoff of New Shepard with six international crewmembers took place under a partly cloudy sky at Launch Site One near Van Horn in West Texas at 9:40 a.m. EDT.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe sees increasingly frequent satellite signal jamming and spoofing.

NASA’s acting administrator, Sean Duffy, made his international space debut at a global gathering in Sydney.

Blue Origin will build a new payload processing facility at Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, under a U.S. Space Force contract announced Oct. 7.

Intuitive Machines, Inc. has been appraised at Capability Maturity Model Integration Institute Maturity Level 3 for software development.

ArkEdge Space was contracted by JAXA to study key technologies needed for a dedicated positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) satellite constellation.

Apex officially opened its new “Factory One” production facility in Los Angeles on Oct. 6.

The chairman of the FCC wants to streamline the licensing process for satellite and Earth station applications to help businesses.

Progress in reducing small-satellite costs will come from the discipline to know which expenses buy reliability and which just keep us stuck in the past.

As Beijing races to match U.S. capabilities in orbit, the Pentagon warns of rising threats across all orbital layers.

The Planetary Society is opposing significant proposed cuts to NASA’s science budget.

Arrays Labs has won a contract from Office of Naval Research to study the feasibility of using its formation-flying radar satellites to conduct AMTI missions.

Cubesat projects are creating career paths for students while helping companies find engineers with experience in space technology and other disciplines.