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…
Regulating Orbital Debris, Part One
When humanity was just beginning space launches 60 years ago, it seemed as if nothing could stand in the way of our inevitable push into the cosmos. Now, a booming young commercial space industry is brushing up against a consequence of this frontier mindset, and a problem of our own making: debris. Orbiting several hundred…
Launcher Names Customers for First Orbiter Mission
Orbiter’s inaugural SN1 mission is nearly ready to fly. The satellite transfer vehicle and payload-hosting platform will launch on a Transporter-6 rideshare this October. Hawthorne, CA-based Launcher announced customers this morning: Orbiter will deploy craft for Skyline Celestial, Innova Space, NPC Spacemind, Bronco Space/Cal Poly Pomona, a Stanford student-run organization, and an undisclosed customer… …and host payloads for CesiumAstro,…
Astronaut Vans, a Motley Crew, and No. 2: A Q+A with the Runner-up Bidder for NASA’s Artemis Astronaut Vans
Render for an Artemis-era crew transport vehicle. Image: Oxcart Assembly. NASA recently awarded electric vehicle developer Canoo ($GOEV) a $147,855 contract to produce the crew transport vehicles (CTVs) that will ferry Artemis crews nine miles from their astronaut quarters to the pad in Cape Canaveral. The CTVs, as specced by NASA, must be zero-emission vehicles,…
Geek Out: Our Own Black Hole
At the center of our galaxy—and, probably, at the center of most others—is a supermassive black hole, driving the complex swirl of stars and gas that we live in. Yesterday, scientists unveiled the first image of the Milky Way’s own black hole, Sagittarius A* (or Sgr A* for short), in shockingly high resolution. The now-viral…
Astra to launch from across the pond
Earlier this week, Astra announced plans to launch from SaxaVord Spaceport in the United Kingdom. Pending regulatory approvals, Astra hopes to begin launching from the facility by 2023. According to Astra, SaxaVord will expand the company’s capacity at key inclinations and accelerate access to space for customers launching in the UK. One of the key…
Momentus, Virgin Orbit, BlackSky, and Spire Report Q1 Earnings
Image: Niall David/Momentus Even if most of us may not want to think about financial markets right now, earnings season is in full swing. Let’s run through four results from this week, bucketed into two categories. Space transportation Momentus ($MNTS) reported $0 in Q1 revenue on Monday and a $26M net loss. There’s a lot…
Xona Passes Testing Milestone for Navigation Demo Mission
Xona Space Systems has completed testing for its first on-orbit navigation demo mission, Huginn. The spacecraft hardware is now with Spaceflight, Inc. for integration into the SpaceX Transporter-5 rideshare mission later this month. Getting around: The global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) in operation right now are owned and operated by governments. The US has GPS,…
A Q+A with Carlos Moura, President of Brazil’s Space Agency
Carlos Moura is president of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB). In April, we sat down with Moura to discuss the country’s space priorities. Last week, Brazil announced an agreement with Innospace, a South Korean rocket startup. Innospace aims to launch the first suborbital test flight of its HANBIT TLV rocket from Brazil’s Alcântara Spaceport in…
Phantom Sees “No Blockage” Reaching Orbit in 2023
Phantom Space has placed an order for 200+ rocket engines from Ursa Major, the two startups announced this week. Reading the fine print: Ursa will supply Phantom with 5,000-lb thrust Hadley engines that are already coming off of the production line, and Ripleys, which will have an order of magnitude more thrust. Phantom will use…
Avio Vega-E M10 roars to life in Sardinia
Italian rocket builder Avio announced late last week that it had successfully tested its M10 methalox upper stage engine at its test facility in Sardinia. The engine will power the third stage of the company’s Vega-E rocket, which it expects to debut in 2026. The M10 at a glance: Vehicle: Vega-E Thrust: 98 kN Specific…
