This weekend, Virgin Orbit launched its fourth successful mission. Straight Up launched from Mojave under the cover of night for the first time. That name may sound familiar as the mission was named after a 1988 Paula Abdul song and included a prep visit from the pop legend herself. Cosmic Girl and Launcher One delivered […]
On this week’s episode of the Pathfinder podcast, Ryan sits down with Mo Islam, who is his boss and the cofounder/CEO of Payload. A Payload on Payload interview? It’s like the Spiderman pointing at another Spiderman meme. Jokes aside, Ryan invited Mo Islam on to discuss a presentation he prepared for the Payload team at […]
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 […]
Houston, we have an image problem. Yesterday, Inmarsat released a massive report on the public perception of the space industry. The survey of 20,000 people across 11 countries showed, by and large, a lack of faith in the space industry to solve problems down on Earth or to benefit humanity. The spectacle of it all: […]
If you’ve ever dreamed of being a Mars researcher, now’s your chance. NASA is looking for citizen scientists to help identify Martian clouds and aid the agency’s understanding of the Red Planet’s atmosphere.Context: Mars’s atmosphere is ~100X times thinner than Earth’s. In that frigid environment, clouds aren’t made of liquid water, like ours. They’re ice, made […]
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 […]
French launch startup Venture Orbital Systems (VOS) has closed a €10M ($10.4M) Series A. The round was led by Crédit Mutuel Innovation and Expansion, which were joined by BPI, Comat, Nicomatic, and ADF. VOS is developing its two-stage Zephyr launch vehicle capable of deploying 100+ kg payloads to LEO. The company is currently targeting 2024 […]
Gather around, gather around–we have a new Pathfinder episode out. This week, we chatted with Lori Garver, the former deputy administrator of NASA. Lori Garver is a senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, an EIR at Bessemer, and a member of the board at Hydrosat. In addition, she […]
The European Space Agency has inked a €160M ($168M) contract with Airbus UK for the agency’s ninth Earth Explorer mission. The FORUM satellite is slated to launch in 2027 and will measure radiation emitting from the Earth into Space. The science: FORUM (Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring) will be the first satellite to observe […]
Space just got added to your retirement accounts. The Russell 3000, an index that benchmarks the US stock market, added several space companies Monday: Astra ($ASTR) Momentus ($MNTS) Planet ($PL) Redwire ($RDW) Rocket Lab ($RKLB) Spire ($SPIR) Terran Orbital ($LLAP) Spire and Terran Orbital touted their inclusion in the index. “We are honored to be […]
Virgin Orbit has established a Brazilian subsidiary and created a catchy acronym for the entity by rearranging the order of its stock ticker ($VORB) and tacking on one letter. VOBRA, or Virgin Orbit Brasil Ltda., is its name, and launching from the equator is its game. Brazil has also formally granted Virgin Orbit an operator’s […]
Last Thursday and Friday, we asked readers: “Now that Starship is moving forward in South Texas, we want to hear your predictions. When will Starship make its first orbital flight attempt?” We received 145 votes in total. The results:
