Launching satellites to space is a risky business. The field of orbitally proven vehicles remains small, sensor and payload technology is new and constantly changing, and certain orbital regimes are getting more crowded by the month. Insurers, of course, are no strangers to risk. The space insurance industry dates back nearly 60 years. But the […]
For the first time ever, researchers have detected seismic waves on the surface of another celestial body. On December 24, 2021, scientists working on the Marsquake Service at ETH Zurich recorded the unexpected quake using the seismometer on NASA’s InSight lander. Unlike the deep-seated rumblings kilometers below the surface they’d observed over the past three […]
For millennia, humanity has been gazing up toward the stars, trying to make sense of the glittering madness. Hipparchus, a Greek astronomer who lived about 2,100 years ago, is credited not only with creating trigonometry, but also with assigning the first numerical coordinates to stars. The fabled star catalog itself was lost to the ages. […]
Array Labs, a YC alum with ambitions to map the world in 3D, has raised a $5M seed round to kickstart the development of its radar constellation. The investment was led by Seraphim Space and Agya Ventures, with participation from Republic Capital, Liquid 2 Ventures, Rebel Fund, Y Combinator cofounder Trevor Blackwell, and Keyhole cofounder […]
If you’ve been wondering how you can contribute to space debris mitigation efforts, you may be in luck. Privateer, a space debris tracking startup founded by Alex Fielding, Steve Wozniak, and Moriba Jah, has taken space sustainability efforts unto itself through its collision risk assessment tool, Wayfinder. Yesterday, Privateer announced it has partnered with consumer […]
Space Capital has released its quarterly report on investment in the space industry. In the third quarter of 2022, investors injected $3.4B into 79 individual space companies, broadly defined across infrastructure, distribution, and applications. Infrastructure It comes as no surprise that SpaceX takes the cake in capital raised over Q3 with its $1.9B Series R. […]
RAND Corporation is out with a new report on how the US’ principal adversaries—China and Russia—perceive the American space program. The overall findings are bleak, though they come as no surprise: “The Chinese and Russian native-language primary sources reviewed for this project reflect a sustained perception that US military activities related to the space domain […]
Has Einstein ever been wrong? A study published yesterday in Nature revealed the first direct observation of a phenomenon that the famed physicist described in his theory of general relativity. In a mid-collision pair of black holes, the Cardiff University researchers found the strongest evidence yet of a wobbling orbit caused by the distortion of […]
Solestial, a startup spun out of Arizona State University aiming to be the go-to solar energy company for space, announced the close of a $10M seed round. The round was led by Airbus Ventures with participation from AEI HorizonX, GPVC, Stellar Ventures, and Industrious Ventures. The Tempe, AZ-based startup takes a different tack on manufacturing […]
It’s a bird, it’s a plane…it’s a falling re-entry capsule! Varda Space Industries has successfully demonstrated the descent and landing capability of the re-entry capsule for its first microgravity factory test mission. The Varda team dropped the capsule out of an airplane over the Arizona desert to prep for its first mission, set to launch […]
AE Industrial Partners (AEI) announced on Tuesday that it plans to acquire a majority stake in satellite systems provider York Space Systems. According to a report by CNBC, AEI acquired a 51% stake in a deal that values York at $1.125B, making it the next space “unicorn.” AEI declined to comment on the terms of […]
Happy Fiscal New Year, Payload readers. On Oct. 1, fiscal year 2023 (FY23) officially began. As is tradition in recent years, Congress has yet to pass any of the 12 appropriations bills necessary to keep the government running for the next fiscal year. President Biden signed a continuing resolution (CR) into law on Friday, avoiding […]
