Blue Ghost Notches First Successful Lunar Landing
The lander is now working on a series of tasks that will last a lunar day—about 14 Earth days—and a few hours into the lunar night.
Office of Space Commerce ACES Committee Cut By Trump Order
“This morning, we received from the Department of Commerce a ‘stop work’ order on ACES,” according to a memo reviewed by Payload.
CTO Unveils First Regenerative 5G mmWave Telecom Payload
Constellation Technologies and Operations (CTO), a Paris-based startup attempting to build a constellation of VLEO telecom satellites, announced its first tech demo flight aboard a D-Orbit ION sat launching in June.
Varda Conducts First Reentry Mission into Australia
Varda’s second reentry capsule W-2 landed safely in the dust of Southern Launch’s Koonibba Test Range in Australia yesterday.
Op-ed: A Trump Presidency Means More Money for Space. So, What Can We Expect?
With space a focus of the new administration, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk as a senior advisor, we can expect to see money, more ambition, and fewer restrictions on private companies expanding America’s reach in LEO and beyond.
NASA Must Speed Up Decision Making to Beat China to the Moon, Experts Say
“There is not a global competition yet for Mars, so we need to take the right thing at the right time,” Dumbacher said. “The Moon first, then Mars.”
New Satellite Constellation Companies are in Decline
The number of new satellite constellation businesses has sharply declined over the past decade as the space market matures and new startups struggle to find angles to differentiate.
Inside the Hunt for Lunar Water
The sci fi dreams—and economic boom—that would be fulfilled by establishing a long-term lunar presence all hinge on one thing: the ability to locate, extract, and process water ice on the Moon’s surface.
Singapore To Test New Intersatellite Laser Link Tech In 2026
The mission, funded by Singapore’s Office for Space Technology, will test high throughput laser terminals made by Transcelestial, a Singapore-based startup that has used terrestrial tech to provide internet connectivity to Indonesia, Mongolia and the Philippines.
Nations Lock Down EO Capabilities As Ukraine War Continues
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago this week catapulted EO tech into the spotlight, providing a bird’s eye view of everything from Russia’s build up of military equipment along the border to the theft of Ukrainian grain. Seeing the benefits of EO before and during the conflict, industry officials said other countries have been…
Magdrive Propels US Expansion With $10.5M Seed Round
Magdrive’s thruster uses electricity gathered from solar panels to turn its solid metal propellant into hot plasma, which is then ejected from the thruster to provide movement in microgravity.
Talking IM-2 With Tim Crain
Payload talked to IM CTO Tim Crain about the Athena lander, the onboard technology, and, yes, those pesky laser range-finders.
