Macro Headwinds Weigh on VC Funding
It’s been a rough start to the year for startup financing. In fact, Q2 saw the largest quarterly drop in venture funding in a decade. Higher-than-expected inflation growth, rising interest rates, and an energy crisis in Europe continue to threaten institutional capital deployment. VC-backed public listings reached a 13-year quarterly low, with eight completed this…
Moscow Removes Rogozin from Top Roscosmos Role
Moscow removed Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin from his position on July 15, as part of a wider shake-up in the Russian government. No official reason was given for his ousting. Rogozin will be replaced by Yuri Borisov, who was previously the deputy prime minister for defense and space. Rogozin: Rogozin doubled down on his penchant for…
Arizona Researchers Design Sailplane for Mars
Paired with a NASA scientist, a team of researchers from Arizona believes the future of Martian exploration lies in a motorless plane designed to fly like a large seabird. Robots rule the roost on Mars. Rovers study the planet’s surface while orbiters scout from far above. These “sailplanes” would target the in-between region. “This is…
Skyrora opens new 55,000-square-foot manufacturing plant
UK-based launch startup Skyrora has new digs: a 55,000-square-foot manufacturing facility that the company says will be capable of producing up to 16 launch vehicles per year. “Opening the UK’s largest rocket engine manufacturing facility is a significant step towards Skyrora achieving the first sovereign orbital launch from British soil,” Skyrora COO Lee Rosen told…
Euroconsult Forecasts Boom in Smallsat Upmass
Euroconsult has released its 8th report on the small satellite market. The TL;DR–the smallsat industry has big things in the works over the next decade. A boom in smallsat upmass The market intelligence firm’s analysis found that ~18,500 satellites weighing <500kg are likely to reach orbit by 2031. That adds up to ~365 tons per…
Vega C Blasts Off from Kourou in Maiden Flight
The first Avio-built Vega C rocket launched from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana at 15:13 CET (9:13 ET) today. The mission successfully deployed the LARES2 passive satellite for the Italian space agency (ASI) and six small secondary payloads. With the first flight of Vega C now complete, the European Space Agency will hand…
NASA Releases First JWST Full-Color Images
A new age of astronomy has officially dawned. After a long, nail-biting wait, NASA has finally released the first full-color images from JWST, the next-generation space telescope allowing scientists to peer deeper into space than ever before. Astronomers across the world have pinned their hopes on the shiny new scope, aiming to glean precious understanding…
Pathfinder #0007: The Orbital Age with Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice
On this week’s episode of the Pathfinder podcast, Ryan sits down with Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice. His one-year anniversary as chief executive is one week from today. In the last year, Sierra has: Raised a $1.4B (yes, billion) Series A. Announced that it will build the Orbital Reef space station with Blue Origin, Boeing,…
White House Unveils First Sneak Peek JWST Image
Standing alongside NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, President Biden and VP Harris unveiled the first image from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera. After enough of a delay to fill Space Twitter™️ with nervous laughter, the image revealed the deepest and highest-resolution infrared view of the…
ESA Astronaut Candidates Get a Physical
ESA has confirmed that its astronaut selection process has entered the fourth phase. This is only the third time the agency has recruited new astronauts, with the last round occurring between 2008 and 2009. Progress thus far: ESA announced in Feb. 2021 that it had opened a call for new astronauts. The agency received a…
Secretive US Spaceplane Sets New Orbital Record
Super Secret Spaceplane Celebrates New Record Somewhere In Space…With that alternate title, we would have given the “Sally sells seashells by the seashore” tongue twister a run for its money. Unpacking the news: The Boeing-made, US Air & Space Force-operated X-37B spaceplane set a new orbital endurance record on Thursday, passing a previous one set…
Astronauts Take Out the ISS Trash Using Bishop Airlock
Earlier this month, astronauts disposed of ~172 pounds of trash using a completely new method: sending it out of the commercial Bishop Airlock. Working with Houston, Nanoracks cycled its Bishop Airlock, ejected a specially designed trash bag, and voila, the ISS crew had less waste to worry about. “The first full end-to-end cycle was a…
