Japan Awards Astroscale $80M for Debris Observation
Astroscale is working on another new project.
Rachael Zisk
NASA Extends New Horizons Through Late 2020s
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, hurtling through space in the outer solar system, just got a new lease on life. The agency announced Friday that it will be extending the mission until the late 2020s. “The New Horizons mission has a unique position in our solar system to answer important questions about our heliosphere and provide […]
ispace US Unveils New Denver HQ
ispace US unveiled a new headquarters on Thursday that will serve as the homebase for its mission to establish long-term lunar infrastructure and the birthplace of the company’s newest lander. The lunar tech company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Japanese entity of the same name, has ambitious goals to land craft on the Moon consistently […]
Antimatter Responds to Gravity, Study Finds
Forget your dreams of harnessing the awesome power of antimatter to hover and float through the air in the science-fiction world of the future. As it turns out, that approach would leave you in the lurch. For the first time, researchers at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) have experimentally demonstrated that, just like […]
Xage Pulls $17M USSF Contract for Cybersecurity
The Space Force is making strides toward protecting its critical assets in space with the award of a $17M contract to develop a zero-trust system that can keep space assets safe and sound. Xage Security Gov, the federal-focused arm of a startup building a zero-trust cybersecurity platform, announced this morning that it’s clinched the contract […]
KASA Establishment Slips to 2024
South Korea has been trying to establish its space agency since March, but the plan keeps running into legislative woes. Now, it’s not looking like the Korean government will be able to welcome KASA into the world before the end of the year. The country’s Democratic Party holds that the new agency should be an […]
Independent Review Board Finds Mars Sample Return Unrealistic
On Thursday, an independent review board at NASA deemed the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program ineffectively designed and managed, problems that will force the ambitious mission to miss its budget and schedule targets. Down to Earth: NASA’s plan to return samples from the Red Planet for analysis on Earth is already underway. The agency’s Perseverance […]
FAA Proposes Upper Stage Disposal Rule for Debris Mitigation
The FAA is trying to hold commercial launchers in the US to a higher standard to prevent debris creation.
AST SpaceMobile Notches 5G Direct-to-Cell Success
Direct-to-cell technology has taken another step forward. AST SpaceMobile ($ASTS) announced yesterday that it successfully demonstrated 5G connectivity with an unmodified smartphone from space for the first time. Call incoming Direct-to-cell capabilities have gained traction in recent years, with several companies—including ASTS, Lynk Global, and SpaceX—working on incorporating the technology into their constellations. The technology […]
Kayhan Space Closes $7M Seed Extension, Updates Pathfinder
Kayhan Space raised a $7M seed extension ahead of the release of Pathfinder 3.0, an update to the free version of its space traffic coordination software, the company announced this morning.
USAF and FAA Deny Varda Reentry and Recovery Permission
Varda’s first in-space manufacturing capsule can’t come back down to Earth. On Friday, TechCrunch reported that the US Air Force denied Varda Space Industries permission to use a Utah recovery range, and the FAA also denied a reentry license, leaving the company’s orbiting pharmaceutical factory waiting in orbit. “The request to use the Utah Test […]
The DoD Releases a Plan for Protecting Space Assets
The Pentagon is ready and willing to target adversaries’ space assets if conflict spills over into the domain according to an unclassified policy report submitted yesterday to Congress. The report, entitled “Space Policy Review and Strategy on Protection of Satellites,” outlines the Pentagon’s preparations to defend its space assets from attack if war breaks out […]