Stories about missions to service and assemble spacecraft in orbit, in addition to in-space manufacturing capabilities.
Italian space logistics startup D-Orbit launched a US branch on Wednesday that will transform the startup’s flight-proven orbital transfer vehicle into a satellite bus to better court American government customers.
The company is ready to take on missions in space after successfully wrapping up testing on its automated GRIP refueling mechanism.
Space travel has a fuel problem, there are no gas stations outside of Earth, and Spaceium is trying to change that.
Redwire also returned 36 experiments from another module which grows pharmaceutical crystals.
Rocket Lab and True Anomaly will square off in orbit next year.
Private companies are already launching missions that capture the key technology needs for OSAM.
The mission aims to give a spacecraft the vision necessary to serve as a training platform for Space Force Guardians.
Orbit Fab’s RAFTI satellite fueling ports have officially been qualified, and the hardware is beginning to ship to customers, two senior leaders at the startup told Payload.
An October 2023 report from NASA’s inspector general blamed Maxar, which built the spacecraft bus and a robotic arm for the mission.
The UK Space Agency has tapped in-orbit servicing start-up ClearSpace to research satellite refueling, taking a step toward the British agency’s commitment last fall to invest in space sustainability.
The Space Force chose Northrop’s ($NOC) satellite propellant refueling system as a standard design for future military spacecraft, a decision that could shape the orbital servicing industry.
Orbit Fab and ClearSpace are teaming up to bring their in-space servicing capabilities together in orbit.
