The Space Development Agency (SDA) is looking forward to 2022 as a year of massive growth, integration into the U.S. Space Force and the first launches of its Tranche 0 transport layer satellites. But many of its plans could be in limbo as Congress faces an impending deadline to pass a spending bill.
Sierra Space’s expansive goal of developing a space transport and habitation ecosystem has received a major boost with the successful raising of a $1.4 billion Series A capital investment.
SpaceX plans about a dozen flights of its super heavy-lift, reusable Starship launch system in 2022, beginning with an orbital flight test in January or February.
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket deployed a pair of Earth-observation satellites into orbit for BlackSky on Nov. 17, a mission that also tested helicopter operations for future midair booster recoveries.
NASA has selected Intuitive Machines for the integration, delivery and operational oversight of four science payloads to the Moon’s Reiner Gamma in 2024 using the company’s Nova-C lander under a $77.5 million fixed-price contract.
Russia’s Nov. 15 test of a direct ascent anti-satellite missile, which destroyed a satellite and created a new field of debris, shows the U.S. needs to change its approach to space situational awareness away from simply tracking what debris is already in orbit to actively looking for what might be trying to evade detection and new threats, top U.S. space officials said.
NASA has assigned Jessica Watkins to its Crew-4 mission, a planned April launch by Commercial Crew Program contractor SpaceX of four U.S. and European astronauts to the International Space Station for a six-month tour of duty.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Indian private space company Digantara Research and Technologies has signed a contract with UK satellite startup Orbital Astronautics to launch a lidar-based debris-tracking payload.
