Yesterday, the Toronto-based Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) announced that it has achieved a major milestone in debris removal: successfully deorbiting a spacecraft without the use of propulsion. The 24-year-old laboratory used a drag sail to deorbit a nanosatellite within five years from a ~688km altitude, ~178 years more quickly than it would have without the […]
After a long and arduous review process, the FAA has finally released its environmental assessment of SpaceX’s Starship/Super Heavy launch site in Boca Chica. The agency found that the site would have no significant impact on the local environment—and that SpaceX is essentially cleared to proceed, but with some caveats. SpaceX will need to take […]
NASA has delayed its Psyche mission, which was previously meant to launch on a Falcon Heavy in early August to begin its journey to study the eponymous asteroid. Another NASA mission, Janus, is hitching a ride on Psyche’s rocket, but the launch delay poses a problem—the two Janus probes may not be able to meet […]
The NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) published its report on the agency’s management of a second mobile launch tower for the SLS mega-moon rocket—and the forecast isn’t looking good. Right now, the OIG anticipates that the project will cost more than twice what was originally budgeted and will be completed ~2.5 years behind schedule. […]
Earlier this year, we held our breaths for weeks as the super-powerful and highly delicate JWST made a galactic journey a million miles away to its final orbit and unfolded all its individual components. The observatory had 344 single points of failure in its deployment phase. In January, NASA announced that the telescope had fully […]
France has signed the Artemis Accords, joining 19 other signatories in an agreement to maintain safe and cooperative operations in space. About the accords: In 2020, NASA kickstarted an initiative to foster international cooperation and set some ground rules for spacefaring before humans returned to the moon. Nations who sign the Artemis Accords agree to […]
Japanese communications and entertainment giant Sony has opened the doors to a new business: Sony Space Communications. The new San Mateo, CA-based business plans to begin developing laser optical communications tech for small satellites in LEO. This isn’t Sony’s first venture into space tech. Since 2016, the company has worked with JAXA on optical communications […]
Tomorrow marks 100 days since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. Over the course of the last few months, satellite imagery has served as the world’s window into the destruction and tolls of war, providing vital intelligence that the Ukrainian and allied governments and humanitarian groups have used to defend the country and ease human […]
NASA has named the long-awaited designers who will build the next generation of spacesuits. Axiom Space and a team led by Collins Aerospace have won the agency’s Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) contract, and will dress the next astronauts to return to the lunar surface. The background: NASA’s astronauts need new clothes for a new […]
This is the second installment of our deep dive on orbital debris. Read Part One here. – Plenty of ink is spilled on the notion that the space industry is at an inflection point, driven by lowering launch costs and barriers to entry. In the coming decade, tens of thousands of satellites are poised to […]
Yesterday, The Everyday Astronaut (aka Tim Dodd) published his latest Starbase tour and video Q+A with Elon Musk. The two journey to the top of the giant, 143-meter robotic chopsticks tower built to catch Starship, taking in the impressive views of Starbase and talking about the super-heavy launch vehicle and the other goings-on at SpaceX. […]
AstroForge, an asteroid-mining startup and Y Combinator alum, has raised a $13M seed round led by Initialized Capital, with participation from Seven Seven Six, EarthRise, Aera VC, Liquid 2, and Soma. AstroForge 101: Cofounders Matt Gialich and Jose Acain hail from Virgin Orbit and SpaceX, where they embraced a high-risk, fail-fast Silicon Valley mindset. The […]
