Stories about operations in low-Earth orbit.
AST SpaceMobile ($ASTS) stock plunged nearly 30% this week after the cash-strapped company announced Tuesday it had raised $59.4M in a steep discount public offering. The satellite manufacturer sold 12.5M shares at ~$4.75 a pop, well below the ~$6.50 price tag the shares were trading at before the offering. Space → Mobile: The Odessa, TX-based […]
Space habitat startup Vast tapped Impulse Space to develop the propulsion system for its Haven-1 LEO space station. “Our qualified Saiph thruster is a perfect fit for Haven-1’s propulsion requirements. We look forward to collaborating with such a dedicated and like-minded team,” said Impulse chief Tom Mueller. Orbital workshop: Vast intends to deploy Haven-1 to […]
Tomorrow.io, a weather intelligence and climate security platform, announced an $87M Series E funding round led by Activate Capital. The investment will be used to accelerate the deployment of its 20-bird constellation over the next 18-24 months. “We believe Tomorrow.io’s vertically integrated approach and satellite constellation will accelerate a paradigm shift in how millions around […]
Russia will select the first cohort of Russian Orbital Station (ROS) cosmonauts by next year, officials announced last week. Development of the training program for the selected cosmonauts is expected to be completed by 2025. Russian Orbital Station 101: With the ISS set to deorbit by the end of the decade, Russia has proposed building […]
TRL11, a startup aiming to bring advanced video production and monitoring capabilities to the space domain, has raised a $3M pre-seed to scale up its team and production. Boost.VC led the round, which also included participation from Wonder VC, Anorak, Geek Ventures, Space Cadets, and several angel investors, including Launcher founder Max Haot. TRL11 101: […]
The second-ever commercial astronaut mission to the ISS has embarked on its journey. Mission recap: Right on schedule at 5:37pm ET yesterday, the Axiom Mission 2 (aka Ax-2) crew of four successfully lifted off from KSC in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9. The crew included: AlQarni and Barnawi will be the […]
Albedo, a startup developing a VLEO constellation to collect high-resolution optical imagery from space, has formed a strategic advisory board of former senior intelligence and defense officials to aid the company in its bid to boost government business. The formation of this board “allows us to…strategize well and efficiently around engaging on the national security […]
Vast, a space habitation technology company, is planning to launch the world’s first commercial space station, Haven-1, into LEO by August 2025, the company announced Wednesday. Haven-1 will initially function as an independent crewed space station before connecting with a larger Vast space station currently in development. The station, which can accommodate up to four […]
Happy belated Transporter launch day to all who celebrate. At 2:48am Saturday, SpaceX launched the Transporter-7 mission on a Falcon 9, carrying 51 customer payloads to new homes in orbit. These rideshare missions are big days for small satellite companies that rely on the comparatively low cost to send their birds to orbit. On this […]
Slingshot Aerospace announced this morning that it will add 80 new sensors by the end of the year, doubling its tracking capabilities and getting closer to its goal of building the most comprehensive space tracking network on the planet. The story so far: CEO Melanie Stricklan founded Slingshot in 2017 to tackle the growing need […]
The Space Development Agency is all about moving fast, but getting its first batch of satellites off the ground aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 will have to wait a little longer after Thursday’s launch was unexpectedly scrubbed three seconds before liftoff. SDA announced Friday morning that the expected launch attempt at 10:29 am ET Friday […]
Starlink’s V2 satellites are having some issues. On Tuesday, Elon tweeted an explanation for observations that some of the V2 Minis launched last month have changed the altitude and eccentricity of their orbits: The new technologies: The Starlink V2 Minis are essentially trial runs for technology that will fly on the much larger final V2 […]
