Kepler has successfully demonstrated the ability to communicate between satellites on orbit, the company’s CEO Mina Mitry announced (H/T SpaceNews). Two data-relay terminals aboard satellites launched in January have been sending data packets back and forth since four days after launch, per Mitry. Intersatellite links The elusive tech is a big opportunity for satellite operators […]
Putin declared that Russia is going to restart its own lunar program, develop a nuclear space tug, and field a new launch vehicle, Russian media reported. But ongoing sanctions on Russia warrant some healthy skepticism on the feasibility of these programs. The Russian leader made the announcement on Yuri’s Night, the 61st anniversary of Soviet […]
Two states that are among the biggest movers and shakers in the US space economy are fighting back against federal decision-making, albeit in very different ways. Colorado Senators Michael Bennet (D) and John Hickenlooper (D) and Reps Doug Lamborn (R) and Jason Crow (D) released a joint statement Monday: “We have said before that the […]
On Tuesday, the Defense Intelligence Agency published “Challenges to Security in Space,” an updated edition of a report it first released in 2019. The findings aren’t necessarily groundbreaking, but they’re aimed at communicating the rapidly evolving threat landscape in space to the general public: The DIA says that US efforts to ensure the space domain “remains […]
Planet (NYSE:PL) yesterday announced Planetary Variables, a new analytics product that spans three preprocessed data feeds: Soil Water Content: daily observations of the amount of water in soil at 5cm depth at 100m resolution Land surface Temperature: “Accurate, continuous insight” into surface temps at 100m resolution Vegetation Biomass Proxy: Daily crop biomass data at 10m […]
German thermal remote sensing startup ConstellR has acquired Belgian hyperspectral startup ScanWorld to offer better agricultural insights for end users. According to ConstellR, ScanWorld’s hyperspectral product development know-how will complement its own thermal infrared and data processing capabilities. Both companies were founded in 2020 with the aim of offering Earth observation (EO) data to the […]
The future of space tourism may look nothing like the sterile, utilitarian white rooms imagined in the sci-fi staples we grew up with. Instead, it could be comfortable, familiar, and focused on fostering human connection and empathy, according to Space Perspective cofounder, co-CEO and CTO Taber MacCallum. Space Perspective: The space-tourism-via-balloon startup aims to capture […]
World View is a Tucson, AZ-based remote-sensing and space tourism stratospheric balloon developer. The startup is on a publicity blitz, making waves recently at SXSW in Austin, appearing on The Today Show, and naming actor Adrian Grenier as “chief earth advocate.” We caught up with CEO Ryan Hartman to hear more about World View’s roadmap. […]
Today, there is currently only one initiative developing crewed launch capabilities in Europe. It’s not ESA, CNES, or a private startup. It’s a moonshot venture from a group of enthusiasts working in their spare time, funded by donations. Their north star: develop a single-person suborbital vehicle. The scrappy underdogs Founded in 2011, Denmark-based Copenhagen Suborbitals […]
Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) will attempt to pluck a booster from the skies via helicopter later this month. The effort, if successful, would represent the first time that a small launch vehicle’s booster is recovered. “It’s actually, by far, the hardest thing to do,” Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck told Payload Friday. The company […]
ESA has contracted Arianespace to launch the EU’s Sentinel-1C Earth observation satellite aboard an Avio-built Vega-C rocket. Sentinel-1C is expected to take over the duties from Sentinel-1B, which suffered an anomaly in December. In January, ESA officials said that recovery efforts had failed. By late February, they identified a 28V power-regulated bus as the root […]
BlackSky (NYSE:BKSY) is a geospatial intelligence and continuous monitoring company. The Herndon, VA-based space company has been in the news at fairly regular intervals in recent months, due to its role in supplying open-source imagery and intelligence related to Ukraine. Payload sat down with BlackSky CEO Brian O’Toole at Space Symposium earlier this week to […]
