Space

By Graham Warwick
Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Aerospace

BlackSky, a small-satellite-based startup providing geospatial intelligence to government agencies and others, will begin trading as a public company Sept. 10 after a successful reverse-merger with a special purpose acquisition company.
Commercial Space

By Guy Norris
As Sierra Space continues final assembly of the Dream Chaser orbital spaceplane ahead of its launch in late 2022, the Colorado-based company is expanding its partnership with Japanese trading corporation Kanematsu to facilitate development of an international commercial economy in low Earth orbit.
Commercial Space

By Mark Carreau
Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov conducted a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Sept. 9 despite a smoke alarm that sounded on the ISS several hours before the excursion.
Space

By Brian Everstine
The Space Force’s Space Enterprise Consortium other transaction authority has grown exponentially as the service has matured and evolved its acquisition process, and now expects to award almost $1 billion dollars this year largely to nontraditional companies.
Space

By Guy Norris
The satellites will be launched on five Electron flights scheduled to take place in quick succession over the second quarter of 2023.
Commercial Space

By Jen DiMascio
Sikorsky, Boeing deliver helo proposal; GE’s second XA100 test; Satellite servicing venture gains steam and South Korean missile test.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Michael Bruno
Luxembourg-based Kleos Space, which aims to provide big-data analytics via space-based radio frequency reconnaissance satellites, said it raised Australian $12.6 million ($9.3 million) by way of a stock sale.
Commercial Space

OneWeb’s emerging low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation will pair with AT&T’s terrestrial broadband fiber network to expand connectivity for AT&T business customers, particularly in harder-to-reach locations on Earth, the companies announced Sept. 8.
Commercial Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA, in consultation with Arianespace, has moved the planned launch date for the James Webb Space Telescope from Oct. 31 to Dec. 18.
Space

By Michael Bruno
Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have joined several existing venture capital backers in a new $10 million fundraising round at on-orbit refueling and resupply startup Orbit Fab, the San Francisco company announced Sept. 7.
Space

By Jen DiMascio
Australia’s quest to build a military satellite communications constellation has companies around the globe making pitches.
Space

By Mark Carreau
Inspiration4, the first all-civilian astronaut crew to orbit the Earth, will be doing a lot more than gazing out the windows of their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
Commercial Space

By Mark Carreau
As NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance mission team worked to verify the successful collection of the large rover’s first sample of rock from the red planet, the rover’s companion Ingenuity helicopter drone took flight over the Labor Day weekend for the 13th time.
Space

By Chen Chuanren
The European OEM says it wants to make Australia’s defense satcom transition to a sovereign capability “as easy as possible.”
Space

By Tony Osborne
German plans for offshore satellite launch have been boosted by the support of four launch providers.
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz
One of the four engines on the company’s two-stage Alpha rocket shut down about 15 sec. after liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Sept. 2.
Space

By Mark Carreau
Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov carried out the first of a potential 11 spacewalks outside the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) on Sept. 3 to prepare the recently arrived Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module for future operations.
Space

By Maxim Pyadushkin
Russia plans to test a drip-type radiant cooler for its future nuclear space tug on the International Space Station.
Space

By Guy Norris
NASA’s Orion spacecraft prepares for upgrades as plans for the Artemis I test mission enter the home stretch.
Space

By Irene Klotz
Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket exploded less than 2 min. after liftoff on Sept. 2, ending a debut flight test some 10 years in the making.
Space

By Jen DiMascio, Michael Bruno, Irene Klotz
COVID-related shortages impinge on launch schedules and satellite manufacturing
Space

By Irene Klotz
Firefly Aerospace is on track for the first flight test of its Alpha launch vehicle, a two-stage, liquid-oxygen-and-kerosene-fueled booster designed to carry 2,205 lb. to low Earth orbit.
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz
The Federal Aviation Administration said it is investigating a deviation in the flightpath cleared for the descent of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Unity to Spaceport America in New Mexico, following its suborbital flight with Richard Branson and five employees aboard on July 11.
Commercial Space

By Mark Carreau
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and local members of Congress spoke to the crew aboard the International Space Station Sept. 2, discussing the ISS and the agency’s efforts to return to the Moon.
Space