The UAE unveiled plans on Sunday to send a spacecraft to explore the asteroid belt by 2028, a follow-on to the emerging space nation’s ambitious Mars mission currently orbiting the Red Planet. The Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt, or EMA, will study six asteroids before reaching its final destination: a mysterious red asteroid that […]
The State Department released its first Strategic Framework for Space Diplomacy today, proving that diplomacy in orbit has become a reality much sooner than Futurama would have had us believe. The framework: The document highlights how the State Department will advance US leadership in orbit on priorities like establishing norms of behavior, as well as […]
The debt limit deal reached late Saturday night contains both good and bad news for NASA. The plan from President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), which is expected to get a vote in the House on Wednesday, would keep non-defense spending roughly flat in fiscal year 2024, with a 1% bump in 2025, […]
Virgin Galactic took to the skies yesterday, launching the final VSS Unity test flight before beginning commercial service. The Unity 25 mission tested the ship’s technical function as well as the astronauts’ experience. This was the company’s first spaceflight in nearly two years after a pause for an FAA investigation and fifth in total. The […]
NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a scathing report yesterday on the cost overruns in the engine and booster contracts under the Artemis SLS program. The report revealed $23.8B of total SLS expenses since 2012, resulting in a dizzying $4.2B cost per launch. Over the Moon: SLS is an expendable heavy-lift rocket designed to […]
Fleet raked in $33M in a Series C round yesterday to build out its satellite-enabled mineral exploration solution. Blackbird led the funding round, which valued the startup at $229M. Down Undah: Headquartered in South Australia, Fleet is hyper-focused on serving one of the region’s largest economies, resource mining. The company leverages its seven-nanosatellite LEO constellation […]
South Korea’s Nuri rocket, also called KSLV-II, successfully completed its third launch today, marking the first time a Korean launch vehicle carried commercial payloads to space. Three’s company: Lifting off from Korea’s Naro Space Center, the Nuri launcher deployed eight satellites into orbit, including three from domestic companies: Lumir, Justek, and Kairo Space. Those satellites […]
Astranis, an SF-based GEO broadband startup, has successfully deployed its first satellite in orbit to begin providing capacity over Alaska. “Our MicroGEO satellites will help get millions of people connected to the internet through our commercial customers, and importantly they are a new tool in the toolbox for the U.S. Department of Defense as it […]
Fortuna Investments is opening a Miami office with the goal of investing in 12 early-stage space startups over the next few years. “I think it’s an incredible time to get involved and allocate capital,” Fortuna founder and CEO Justus Parmar told Payload. “We have a lot of powder dry and are looking for opportunities.” Fortuna […]
Ursa Major received a contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) on Tuesday to test a prototype of its new Draper engine for hypersonics and to continue developing its Arroway engines. AFRL awarded these funds aiming to decrease US dependence on foreign propulsion systems for space launch, a key goal of its rocket propulsion […]
The Artemis 2 crew found inspiration in their visit to DC last week, despite the backdrop of partisan debt limit debates and Republican-backed efforts to slash nearly a quarter of NASA’s budget. When I asked Victor Glover how the crew’s meetings with lawmakers had gone amid these financial concerns, he was overwhelmingly optimistic about the […]
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: […]
