LEO
Stories about operations in low-Earth orbit.
China Could Fill Potential Post-ISS Gap in LEO, Industry Says
The US is at risk of losing leadership in LEO to China if commercial space stations do not come to fruition before the ISS plunges into the sea, two industry officials told lawmakers on Wednesday.
A-Rod Will Take Satellite-to-Phone Firm Lynk Public
Lynk, which operates satellites that connect directly to mobile phones to provide emergency connectivity, laid out its plans to go public later this year by merging with a blank check firm run by former baseball star Alex Rodriguez.
Sierra Space Eyes IPO After Years of Prep
The company building the next American space plane is preparing to go public, despite listed space firms recently facing rough waters.
Starship Will Launch Starlab’s Commercial Space Station
Starlab Space, a joint venture between Airbus and Voyager Space, chose SpaceX’s Starship to launch a commercial station.
Commerce Takes the First Step Towards Civil Space Traffic Coordination
The Office of Space Commerce awarded the first contracts to shape the long-awaited Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS)
How Momentus Became The Latest SPAC On The Rocks
Momentus, the space tug company attempting to rebound from a troubled SPAC transaction in 2021, is now on the verge of bankruptcy.
Voyager, Northrop Team Up For Private Space Station Competition
Northrop Grumman is pulling out of NASA’s competition to build a private space station in LEO as a solo entity to instead pair up with Voyager’s Nanoracks.
USAF and FAA Deny Varda Reentry and Recovery Permission
Varda’s first in-space manufacturing capsule can’t come back down to Earth. On Friday, TechCrunch reported that the US Air Force denied Varda Space Industries permission to use a Utah recovery range, and the FAA also denied a reentry license, leaving the company’s orbiting pharmaceutical factory waiting in orbit. “The request to use the Utah Test…
A Q+A With Maxar’s Chris Johnson
Maxar is getting ready to start pumping out 300 series buses for the Space Development Agency’s tracking mission, but a company exec says he sees a long future for the spacecraft with both commercial and national security customers beyond the military constellation. “There are a lot of studies and demo-type contracts within the LEO sphere…
Starfish Breaks Otter Pup’s Death Spiral
Otter Pup is back, baby. The spacecraft from Starfish Space tumbled through space for about six weeks after an emergency deployment from Launcher’s Orbiter craft in June. Yesterday, the Seattle-based startup announced that the craft is finally stabilized. “Less than two months after being deployed with rotation rates 100 times greater than normal operating conditions,…
Telesat and MDA to Build Lightspeed
Telesat’s ($TSAT) LEO broadband plans are back on track. On Friday, the company announced a $2.1B CAD ($1.6B) contract with Canadian space tech company MDA ($MDA) to build 198 satellites. The deal puts an end to Telesat’s previous plan to build its constellation using slightly larger satellites from Thales Alenia Space, which has been beset…
ESA Performs an Assisted Reentry of Aeolus
ESA successfully tested a new tool to safely deorbit defunct satellites that were designed before the development of current guidelines on reducing debris. On Friday, the agency performed an assisted reentry of its Aeolus wind-monitoring mission, which was not originally designed for a manual deorbit. “These manoeuvres were complex, and Aeolus was not designed to…
