As urban air mobility leaders target congested cities such as Los Angeles as launch markets for air taxi services, efforts to secure convenient vertiport locations are accelerating.
Los Angeles-based Inversion, a space startup focusing on the return-to-Earth side of operations, has closed its $10 million seed round, the company announced Nov. 16.
When there are space-related accidents on Earth, which there will be as the space economy grows, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board wants to be ready with codified procedures for investigating, according to a new announcement from officials.
The U.S. Air Force’s future refueling aircraft, beyond the KC-46 and upcoming bridge tanker, should get smaller, focus solely on refueling and rely more on automation to be more effective in a high-end, Pacific war scenario, a new think tank report argues.
The Air Force Research Laboratory recently awarded its largest-ever contract for space-related technology development, providing up to $1 billion to Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory.
NASA has awarded the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy a sole-source, $215 million contract extension for operational support of the Hubble Space Telescope. Meanwhile, the agency is also working to recover the orbital observatory’s full science operations.
Unmanned cargo-aircraft startup Elroy Air has partnered with humanitarian transport operator AYR Logistics to develop an autonomous aerial-delivery service.
Deliveries are expected to have started by the end of 2023 following first flight, while Aeroter hopes to achieve EASA certification for the type in 2024.
Satellite servicing startup Astroscale has unveiled a docking plate it hopes will become standard on all future low Earth orbit satellites to enable their capture and removal from orbit.
While defense spending in recent years has been increasing, the share of it going to research and development is not nearly enough to keep the defense industrial base healthy and, most importantly, allow companies to innovate, the head of Northrop Grumman says.
Though NASA has recently delayed its estimated target of returning to the Moon with humans from 2024 to 2025, the agency remains overly optimistic in the milestones and costs it associates with the Artemis initiative, the agency’s inspector general says.
An Islamic Republic of Iran Navy Aviation SH-3 Sea King flew within 25 yards of the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship LHD 2 USS Essex as it transited the Gulf of Oman, a move the Pentagon criticized as dangerous and unprofessional.
A Russian direct-ascent anti-satellite missile test destroyed a satellite on Nov. 15, generating thousands of pieces of space debris that threaten the International Space Station (ISS) and other assets.
Stakeholders including space agencies, launch providers and satellite operators launched the Net Zero Space initiative at the 4th Paris Peace Forum on Nov. 11-13, calling for a global commitment to achieving sustainable use of space for the benefit of all by 2030.
A week after returning to Earth from a 199-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the four U.S., European and Japanese Crew-2 Dragon astronauts expressed confidence in the orbital science lab’s future as it approaches the 23rd anniversary of its first element launch on Nov. 20.
The airless lunar environment will require some customized assessments by those inspired to initiate scientific inquiries or invest in the commercial ventures that NASA hopes will help it establish a sustained human presence at the Moon. This is where Houston’s Aegis Aerospace believes it could become game changing.
NASA has awarded seven U.S. coast-to-coast startups $90,000 each under its Entrepreneur’s Challenge program to advance the science capabilities of small satellite missions.
A Predator B unmanned aircraft system is capable of being reconfigured for short takeoff and landings within “hundreds of feet" rather than thousands, the manufacturer says.
