EOEquities

Danti Emerges From Stealth With $2.75M Pre-Seed Round

Danti is emerging from stealth today with the announcement of a $2.75M pre-seed funding round, according to a release shared with Payload. What is Danti? The startup, which was founded this year, seeks to make the huge amount of EO information collected in space and from other sources easier to use. The company is building […]

MilitaryPolarisPolicy

NDAA Preview: Spaceport of the Future

One lawmaker is looking to make military launch facilities run more like commercial airports with a pair of amendments set to be introduced tomorrow when the House Armed Services Committee debates its version of the NDAA.  Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA) is expected to introduce two amendments on the Spaceport of the Future: one to allow […]

Military

US Urges Open Comms With Beijing in Orbit

When the US talks to China, China never talks back, according to a senior DoD official. Lt. Gen. John Shaw, the second in command at US Space Command, said there are “a couple” Chinese email addresses registered with the government’s space-track.org site, which alerts operators about potential collisions in orbit, giving them an opportunity to […]

Polaris

World Economic Forum Releases New Space Debris Guidelines

The World Economic Forum and ESA joined forces to draft a new set of orbital debris mitigation recommendations, which were released Tuesday. The four-page guideline already has support from more than two dozen industry players, including Airbus, Planet, Astroscale, and SES. “Space is critical for our modern way of life,” the document says. “We therefore […]

DebrisMilitaryPolicy

Summit for Space Sustainability: Day 1 Highlights

Space sustainability enthusiasts who gathered in New York this week for the fifth iteration of the Secure World Foundation’s Summit for Space Sustainability were faced with a dizzying stat: more than 2,700 spacecraft have been launched since the organization’s last meeting a year ago. The first day of the conference was all about the need […]

Policy

GOP Push for NOAA’s Independence

The chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee introduced a bill on Friday that would establish NOAA as a standalone agency akin to NASA. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Act of 2023, led by Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK), would also require the agency to submit a reorganization plan to boost efficiency and […]

Policy

Miller, Carbajal Give Sneak Peek of Legislative Plans

Lawmakers previewed two legislative proposals in the works during a panel discussion at Payload’s Space Capitol event in DC on Tuesday night.  NDAA preview: Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA) will introduce an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to help federal launch ranges keep up with the rapidly growing launch cadence in Florida and California.  […]

Polaris

COPUOS Update on Sustainable Use of Space

The United Nations gave an update on a new group studying guidelines for the sustainable use of space in a conference room paper released June 2 at the 66th session of the UN’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), which will conclude Friday in Vienna. What it is: The COPUOS Scientific and […]

Polaris

Training the Next Generation of Space Diplomats

The State Department released its first Strategic Framework for Space Diplomacy today, proving that diplomacy in orbit has become a reality much sooner than Futurama would have had us believe.  The framework: The document highlights how the State Department will advance US leadership in orbit on priorities like establishing norms of behavior, as well as […]

Policy

What a Debt Limit Deal Could Mean for NASA

The debt limit deal reached late Saturday night contains both good and bad news for NASA. The plan from President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), which is expected to get a vote in the House on Wednesday, would keep non-defense spending roughly flat in fiscal year 2024, with a 1% bump in 2025, […]

MoonPolarisPolicy

Artemis 2 Crew Finds Inspiration in DC’s Chaos

The Artemis 2 crew found inspiration in their visit to DC last week, despite the backdrop of partisan debt limit debates and Republican-backed efforts to slash  nearly a quarter of  NASA’s budget.   When I asked Victor Glover how the crew’s meetings with lawmakers had gone amid these financial concerns, he was overwhelmingly optimistic about the […]

Debris

G7 Deems Space Debris an ‘Urgent’ Problem

The growing amount of space debris in orbit is an “urgent issue” that must be addressed by international organizations, according to the G7 nations meeting in Japan this weekend.  “We strongly encourage further research and development of orbital debris mitigation and remediation technologies,” officials wrote in the communiqué from the G7 Science and Technology Ministers’ […]