Stories about the tech that’s driving the new space age.
Benchmark has agreed to acquire plasma thruster technology from AASC, the two announced this morning. Benchmark is short for Benchmark Space Systems, a chemical propulsion provider based in Burlington, VT. Benchmark’s Starling and Halcyon satellite propulsion systems are its bread and butter. AASC is short for Alameda Applied Sciences Corporation. The Oakland-based entity keeps a […]
While government-operated orbital outposts may not have the amenities of future private stations, in-space internet, it would appear, will be table stakes. Driving the news: NASA’s Lunar Gateway module, set to begin launching in a few years, will serve as a comms hub, a research lab, short-term living quarters for astronauts, and a holding bay […]
As NASA prepares to send humans back to the moon through its long-awaited Artemis program, it’s taking big steps to encourage commercial lander development. First order of business: CLPS. NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program is funding 14 separate lander concepts from Astrobotic, Deep Space Systems, Draper Labs, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, Lockheed Martin, […]
Satellite data can do many things for governments. One under-discussed use case is giving them a leg up against illegal fishing. A team of startups aims to use space-based edge computing to get fishing insights in near real-time. Edge computing = localized computing, in this case on a satellite. Los Angeles-HQ’d Exo-Space will provide their […]
This morning, Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace, a Norwegian technology company, announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire a majority stake in NanoAvionics. The deal values the Lithuanian smallsat manufacturer at €65M ($67M). The terms: Kongsberg is taking a 77% stake in the company. The company’s leadership will remain unchanged for now, with CEO […]
We’ve made it halfway through 2022. The year has flown by, but it’s been filled with big news and firsts for the space industry. Here’s our recap of the off-Earth goings-on during these last six months. Q1 The year started off with a bang as JWST unfolded successfully, reached its new home a million miles […]
If your phone dies on the Moon, Astrobotic has you covered. Yesterday, the Pittsburgh-based company announced it has completed testing on a wireless charging system that can prep a variety of lunar surface infrastructure for the two-week lunar night. The lunar colony: Big plans are in the works for a lunar and cislunar economy in […]
QuadSAT said today that it’s received €500,000 ($520,000) in additional ESA funding under the ARTES program. The European funds are earmarked for satcom companies looking to productize and commercialize core technology they’ve developed. QuadSAT’s core technology The Danish startup has paired specialized radiofrequency (RF) payloads with quadcopter drones. The company’s engineers have also written code […]
Yesterday, the Toronto-based Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) announced that it has achieved a major milestone in debris removal: successfully deorbiting a spacecraft without the use of propulsion. The 24-year-old laboratory used a drag sail to deorbit a nanosatellite within five years from a ~688km altitude, ~178 years more quickly than it would have without the […]
Last week, NYC-based Cloud to Street announced a partnership with Raincoat, a parametric insurance provider, and Munich Re Group, a major international reinsurer. The three are launching a flood insurance product in Colombia. The national program will make flood insurance policies available to 100,000+ Colombian farmers for the first time. In effect, that means that […]
French startup ION-X has raised €3.8M ($4.1M) to fund further R&D and field a demo mission of its scalable small satellite propulsion system. Joining the round: Bpifrance, the French public investment bank. TF Participations, the investment arm of deeptech startup studio TechnoFounders. Geodesic, an investment vehicle that will make way for the future Expansion fund, […]
Image: Domenic Moen/Stratolaunch Stratolaunch has debuted its structurally complete Talon-A test vehicle. Stratolaunch will use the vehicle, dubbed TA-0, to test the release system of Roc and “characterize” Talon’s separation dynamics. Roc is a really massive twin-fuselage carrier craft, boasting six Boeing 747 engines and a payload capacity of 500,000+ lbs. At 385 feet (~117m) […]
