Stories about missions to service and assemble spacecraft in orbit, in addition to in-space manufacturing capabilities.
OneWeb, Astroscale, the UK Space Agency, and ESA have partnered to launch a space junk servicer by 2024. The partnership comes with a €14.8 million ($15.8 million) investment that will allow Astrocale to advance its ELSA-M debris removal spacecraft from design through manufacturing and up to the satellite’s pre-integration phase. Once launched, ELSA-M will complete […]
Burlington, VT-based Benchmark Space Systems has formally expanded across the pond. The propulsion provider has pond-hopped across the Atlantic, not Lake Champlain, just to be clear. Driving the news…Benchmark has opened a new UK facility to serve the British and European markets. The Vermont startup has also signed a deal with Space Forge, a British […]
Euroconsult has put together the first edition of Space Logistic Markets, an extensive report on the growth of the in-orbit satellite services sector. The market research firm projects that these services will generate $4.4B in revenue by 2031, as the nascent technologies are proven and productized. The report identifies six markets:: Access to space Last-mile […]
For a long time, on-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (OSAM) seemed just out of reach. Now, multiple startups have successfully demonstrated the technology, and many more are developing OSAM capabilities for refueling, repairing, and towing satellites around in orbit. But as this tech becomes more common, industry and policy voices have to consider potential dark […]
Orbit Fab and the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) have struck a partnership to share technology and R&D. What does that mean in practice? Per yesterday’s announcement, Orbit Fab will share the specs of RAFTI, its on-orbit refueling port, with AFRL. In return, AFRL will review Orbit Fab’s refueling tech, “advise on requirements and designs,” […]
Yesterday, Varda Space Industries said it would launch its first microgravity factory as a Falcon 9 rideshare mission in early 2023. Founded last year and incubated at Founders Fund, Varda has raised $50+ million from VCs. In selecting SpaceX, Varda “immediately went with what we were comfortable with,”cofounder and president Delian Asparouhov told Payload. “It […]
