Stories about the companies building a ride to space.
ICYMI…and you probably didn’t…Elon Musk provided a public update on Starship. Since Starship is poised to become the largest, most powerful rocket ever, it’s safe to say we were watching with notepads in hand. Musk gave the presentation in front of Starship and Super Heavy fully stacked, which is a tough backdrop to beat. No virtual Zoom […]
After a couple scrubs, Astra (NASDAQ:ASTR) launched Thursday for the first time from the Space Coast. LV0008 flew smoothly and nominally for roughly three minutes, but ended up failing mid-flight. What happened? Something went awry upon stage separation. The rocket’s upper stage began spinning shortly after engine ignition (based on the live feed). The payloads: Four NASA-sponsored […]
Launcher has reserved three more missions for Orbiter, its orbital transfer tug, to Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) on future SpaceX Transporter rideshares. The Hawthorne, CA-based space transportation startup’s first Orbiter mission is scheduled to fly on Transporter-6 in October. Last-mile services: The Orbiter vehicle is designed to link up with satellites that have reached generic orbits through rideshare missions […]
BryceTech’s latest quarterly launch briefing is out. We read these reports, then reread them, and then drill each slide like it’s a flashcard, so that all the data is etched into our memories. Without further ado, BryceTech’s Q4 orbital launch data: China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) led Q4 ’21 with 15 launches. SpaceX had eight […]
Antitrust cops have stepped in to block Lockheed Martin’s (NYSE:LMT) proposed $4.4B takeover of Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE:AJRD), the US’s last-standing large independent missile- and rocket-motor maker. The FTC sued Tuesday to block the deal, which was announced in December 2020. Aerojet shares dropped nearly 19%, while Lockheed finished the day up 3.7%. Strategically speaking, the acquisition would give […]
Yesterday, newly public Virgin Orbit (NASDAQ:VORB) held a pre-flight press briefing for its upcoming Above the Clouds mission. Virgin’s LauncherOne rocket and Cosmic Girl will take off from Mojave Air and Space Port in California, and follow a flight path approximated in the graphic above. Manifest: Four Pentagon R&D satellites, a NASA-sponsored university payload, two nanosatellites for Polish […]
On Thursday, the French rocket firm recapped a robust year of launch. At a glance: Revenues grew 30% annually to €1.25B (~$1.4B), powered by 15 successful launches (+5 YoY). Arianespace’s three different vehicles—Ariane, Soyuz, and Vega—transported 305 satellites to orbit from three different launchpads. And what better way to close out 2021 than by launching Webb? Thanks to the […]
Firefly Aerospace will temporarily stop preparations for an early 2022 Alpha launch, following a CFIUS recommendation that a foreign owner divest his equity stake, Bloomberg reports. That stake, about 50% of Firefly shares, is owned by US venture fund Noosphere Venture Partners, run by Ukrainian-born investor/entrepreneur Max Polyakov. CFIUS = The US Committee on Foreign Investment in the United […]
Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) successfully completed its 22nd launch, “Love At First Insight,” with Electron last week. The rocket transported two BlackSky Earth observation satellites to orbit, bringing Rocket Lab’s satellite launch total to 107. With a twist: Love at First Insight involved a controlled splashdown of the rocket’s first stage. Rocket Lab stationed a helicopter […]
Astra (NASDAQ: ASTR) successfully reached orbit Saturday. The small launcher’s LV0007 vehicle lifted off from a Kodiak, AK, spaceport, with a dummy payload for the US Space Force. “The team’s worked so hard on this for so many years,” Astra cofounder CEO Chris Kemp said on NASASpaceflight’s launch livestream. “We’re just getting started, folks,” he tweeted. LV0008, LV0009, […]
BryceTech has released its latest quarterly briefing on rocket launches and satellite deployments from around the world. By launch frequency (total spacecraft #s in parentheses)… China’s CASC led Q3 with 15 orbital launches (and 30 total spacecraft launched) Arianespace conducted five launches (but transported the most spacecraft—111—of any provider) SpaceX took bronze, with three orbital trips (and […]
This morning, iRocket and Turion Space announced a multi-mission launch services agreement. The startups are focused on getting to space and providing in-space services, respectively. Getting to space: iRocket is developing Shockwave, a reusable and fully autonomous small launch vehicle. The three-year old company is backed by the US Space Force, the M&J Engineering Group, and […]
