Civil
Stories about US and international civil space missions, including those led by NASA and ESA.
NASA and DARPA Partner on Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
After a 50-year hiatus, the US is planning to test a nuclear fission-powered thermal propulsion system on a spacecraft. NASA said this week that it would team up with DARPA, the Pentagon’s R&D arm, to build, launch, and demonstrate a nuclear thermal engine. This early work is intended to pave the way for a crewed…
Canada Looks to Allow Space Launches
Canada is opening the doors to commercial launch. On Friday, Canadian Transport Minister Omar Alghabra announced that within the next three years, the country will set up the regulatory framework and licensing processes necessary to greenlight domestic launches. “For many years, Canadian satellites have launched from sites in other countries,” Alghabra said. “It’s time for…
DoD Releases Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Report
Through 60 Minutes, Congress, and incremental declassification, American citizens have been treated to a closer look into what the US government’s “aliens(???)” desktop folder looks like. Driving the news: The intelligence community’s (IC) quest to understand elusive UFO-esque unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) sightings has borne fruit. Those fruits, though, don’t offer any conclusive evidence of…
Exclusive: Euroconsult Values 2022 Space Economy at $464B
In its flagship Space Economy Report published this morning, Paris-based Euroconsult finds that the space market grew 8% in 2022. This report is the gold standard for market intelligence on the end-to-end space economy, from upstream manufacturers to downstream service providers and end users across civil, military, and commercial space. The space value chain… …as…
Space Agency Leaders Recap 2022
The world was busy in space this year. All together, there have been 174 successful orbital launches so far in 2022, and the world’s space agencies have pulled together over the course of the year to make major strides in science, technology, and exploration. Read on for our recap of the top events from space…
Q4 2022 News Roundup
Can you believe 2022 is nearly over? It’s been a jam-packed year for the space industry, full of groundbreaking moments in science, turbulence in the markets and world order; substantive policy developments; and historic mission firsts. We’re kicking off our year-end coverage by looking at objects closest in the rear-view mirror. Payload combed through the…
Roscosmos and NASA Investigate ISS Leak
Last week, a pair of cosmonauts aboard the ISS were all suited up for a spacewalk, ready to step out of the decompressed airlock, when flight controllers noticed that the Soyuz M-22 capsule docked with the station had sprung a leak. Over the past week, NASA and Roscosmos have been investigating the leak, which spilled…
Kamala Harris Updates National Space Council Advisory Group
On Friday, the White House announced the latest group of leaders to staff a key advisory board for the National Space Council. Formerly known as the User’s Advisory Committee (UAC), the group will inform policy decisions and actions considered by the council. The group includes 30 representatives from the space industry, climate scientists, educators, advocacy…
House Introduces Situational Awareness Transition Bill
On Wednesday, members of the House Space, Science and Technology committee introduced a bill to properly organize the rules surrounding space safety and space situational awareness (SSA). This bill, the Space Safety and Situational Awareness Transition Act of 2022, was spearheaded by Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA) chairman of the subcommittee on space and aeronautics, and…
TransAstra Receives NASA and DoD Awards for Debris Removal and Awareness
This morning, TransAstra, a Y Combinator alum building space situational awareness (SSA) and space tug technology, announced that it has received two grants—a NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award and a DoD Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) award—to advance its space debris removal and awareness tech. Right now, TransAstra is focused on space sustainability.…
60 Years Since Mariner 2’s Venus Flyby
60 years ago today, Mariner 2 flew by Venus, making the probe the first successful interplanetary mission. The flyby spacecraft flew within 21,500 miles of the Morning and Evening Star, taking various measurements and making groundbreaking discoveries about our solar system. The lead-up The Mariner program was first introduced in the early 1960’s, when NASA’s…
FCC Aims to Speed Up License Approvals
Late last month, the FCC released a notice of proposed rulemaking that aimed to significantly cut down the red tape surrounding satellite licensing. Now, the commission says that it will discuss the revisions to its licensing procedures as part of its Space Innovation agenda on Dec. 21. The notice falls under a larger trend, led…
Artemis I Splashes Down
Artemis I is complete. At 12:40pm ET yesterday, the Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific, marking the end of its 26-day, 1.4-million-mile journey around the Moon and back again. By all accounts, the first mission in NASA’s grand return to the Moon went smoothly. SLS, the agency’s long-awaited (and over-budget) Moon rocket launched on…
