Closing the Loop on Lunar Exploration: Material Return
Industry is working every day to establish a long-term, sustainable human presence on the lunar surface. But the challenge of creating a complete, end-to-end cislunar economy doesn’t end with touchdown—or even with setting up shop permanently on the surface. To close the loop, material from the Moon also has to make its way back to Earth.
Orion: The Spaceship That Will Carry Astronauts Back to the Moon
When four astronauts climb into NASA’s Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission, they will be doing something no one has done in more than half a century: leaving Earth for a journey to the Moon. Behind this historic flight is a spacecraft designed and built with one unmistakable priority—safeguarding its crew every step of the way.
DoD Space Policy Nominee Fields Questions on Org Structure, Golden Dome, China
The nominee to lead the Pentagon’s space policy wants to streamline collaboration between the Space Force and NRO.
UKSA Taps Slingshot For SDA Tech
As part of the contract, Slingshot will build 13 optical sensor systems at five sites around the globe, allowing the UK government to precisely track everything from satellites to debris to asteroids, according to a press release.
Voyager Acquires ExoTerra for Electric Propulsion Tech
The Voyager Technologies ($VOYG) family is getting a little bit bigger. The broad-spanning space tech company announced Monday that it is acquiring ExoTerra Resource, a CO-based company building electric satellite propulsion systems. The companies did not disclose the financial details of the deal.
Complete Remote Sensing Solution: Storage, Compute, and RF with NuPod
Remote sensing missions produce vast amounts of data which need to be processed and transmitted safely and at speed. Unfortunately the limited bandwidth and system complexity of traditional ground-based processing systems make this level of efficiency extremely difficult to achieve. A new approach is required. One that enhances data processing and transmits mission insights in…
Canadian Spaceport Gets $7M For Orbital Launch
One of Canada’s spaceports received new orbital-launch funding, aimed partly at sovereign defense needs.
China’s is on Track to Beat the US to Extract Lunar Water
Forget boots on the Moon. China looks like it’s going to beat the US to extract water from the lunar surface.
Lockheed, Northrop, and Iridium Q3 Earnings Roundup
This week, a pair of primes—Lockheed Martin ($LMT) and Northrop Grumman ($NOC)—and satcom operator Iridium ($IRDM) reported their revenues for the third quarter. We’ve got the roundup of all the space-related tidbits inside.
VC Investors Weigh the Impact of Europe’s Major Merger
Payload spoke with a handful of venture capital firms on the continent, and the overwhelming sentiment was the same: Startups are going to be just fine.
ESA Unveils Worrying Space Health Index
ESA’s Health Index for the space environment currently sits at a 4. For reference, 1 is the threshold for long term orbital sustainability.
