Exolaunch Ready for Biggest SpaceX Rideshare to Date
What’s it like micromanaging a SpaceX rideshare? Well, let’s find out… Exolaunch is providing launch and deployment services for 21 satellites aboard today’s SpaceX Transporter-5 mission, which is set to lift off at roughly half past 2 Eastern. Exolaunch provides launch services, makes separation systems, and has certainly earned frequent flier status with SpaceX. The…
Lockheed and Filecoin Foundation Partner to Deploy IPFS
Lockheed Martin has partnered with the Filecoin Foundation, a decentralized database developer, to deploy the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) for future use in lunar communications. IPFS: The two companies are working to enable faster internet connection from the Moon. Usually when you try to access a piece of information on the internet, your computer has…
Benchmark Expands to Europe, Inks Propulsion Deal with UK’s Space Forge
Burlington, VT-based Benchmark Space Systems has formally expanded across the pond. The propulsion provider has pond-hopped across the Atlantic, not Lake Champlain, just to be clear. Driving the news…Benchmark has opened a new UK facility to serve the British and European markets. The Vermont startup has also signed a deal with Space Forge, a British…
Citi, McKinsey Chart Growth of Space Industry
Citi released a report earlier this month titled “Space: The Dawn of a New Age.” The bank’s GPS group sizes up the commercial space market and forecasts that the sector will generate $1 trillion in annual sales by 2040. Big, if true…the shiny trillion-dollar number would represent a 5% compound annual growth rate from $370B…
Starliner Plans its Return to Earth
Beset by software glitches and leaky valves, Boeing’s commercial crew capsule has had a rocky road to orbit. But on Friday, the OFT-2 mission finally delivered Starliner safely to the ISS. ICYMI: The Starliner capsule is meant to provide NASA with a second way to get astronauts to the ISS (along with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon…
Exclusive: Phase Four Inks Deal to Scale Production
Image: Phase Four El Segundo-based Phase Four today finalized a lease to build a second factory and scale production of its Maxwell engine product line. The new Hawthorne facility will be over 3X larger than Phase Four’s current plant, and capable of cranking out 100 engines a year. Phase Four’s founding vision was to create…
ESA Maneuvers Around Debris From ASAT Test
We haven’t seen the last of the debris cloud created by a Russian ASAT test last November. At the time, the debris field forced astronauts aboard the ISS to shelter in place while the station navigated around. Now, ESA says that its Sentinel 1A spacecraft had to make a last-minute maneuver to avoid a head-on…
Seraphim Announces Space Camp Mission 9
London-based Seraphim, which bills itself as first and largest space-focused investment fund, has announced the ninth cohort to participate in its Space Camp program. The 11-week accelerator pushes founders to hone their investment pitch, and connect with mentors, culminating in an investor day. The seven startups selected for Mission 9: Ntention, a Norwegian company building…
Spire’s Space Services Business Shines in Upcoming Launch
Spire ($SPIR) announced this morning that it will launch five satellites with SpaceX on the forthcoming Transporter-5 rideshare mission from Florida. What’s notable is the degree to which the company is playing up its space services business. The business unit will have satellites and payloads onboard Transporter-5 for Hancom inSpace, a Korea Aerospace Research Institute…
Exclusive: Euroconsult on Space Logistics Markets
Euroconsult has put together the first edition of Space Logistic Markets, an extensive report on the growth of the in-orbit satellite services sector. The market research firm projects that these services will generate $4.4B in revenue by 2031, as the nascent technologies are proven and productized. The report identifies six markets:: Access to space Last-mile…
Rocket Lab Q1 Results Underscore Growing Space Systems Business
Rocket Lab ($RKLB) booked $40.7M in Q1 revenue, which represents a 124% annual jump and quarterly growth of 48%. Net loss widened in Q1, growing ~71% YoY to $26.7M. End-to-end space: The rocket company is executing on its strategy of building out a robust non-rocket business. Rocket Lab’s space systems unit generated $34.1M in Q1,…
AST SpaceMobile Reports Q1 Results
Midland, TX-based AST SpaceMobile ($ASTS) is looking ahead to the expected summer launch of BlueWalker 3 (BW3) with SpaceX. BW3, a 1.5-ton, 693-square-foot phased array beast, will be a testbed for the company’s space-based cellular broadband network technology. Bet the farm moment? In May, the FCC granted AST SpaceMobile an experimental license to test space-to-ground…
