UK startup Satellite Vu has raised £3.6 million ($5 million) in seed funding to begin building a thermal-imaging satellite constellation that will be able to measure the energy efficiency of any building in the world from low Earth orbit.
Celebrated as the first person to sequence DNA in space, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins returned from her second voyage to the International Space Station (ISS) April 17 having helped to advance the far-reaching technology and eager to see it become part of future human expeditions to the Moon and Mars.
Bill Nelson, a former Democratic senator from Florida, soared through a hearing on his nomination to become the next NASA administrator before a Senate committee he once helped to lead.
Virgin Orbit has signed a six-flight contract to deliver a constellation of hyperspectral imaging satellites being developed by Qinetiq and HyperSat into low Earth orbit.
While it supports NASA’s ongoing Mars helicopter test campaign, the rover Perseverance on April 20 completed its first run of another technology demonstration, successfully converting some of the planet’s carbon dioxide atmosphere into oxygen.
As the U.S. Space Force plans to establish a Space Systems Command this summer, service leadership is already rallying Congress to alter the new command’s reporting structure for two important offices—the Space Development Agency and the Space Rapid Capabilities Office.
Technicians have removed the Space Launch System core stage from its test stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi in preparation for a weeklong trip to Kennedy Space Center, NASA said on April 21.
High winds and rough seas downrange of Kennedy Space Center prompted NASA on April 21 to delay for one day the SpaceX Crew-2 launch to the International Space Station, with liftoff now targeted for 5:49 a.m. EDT on April 23.
Russia’s long-awaited Multipurpose Laboratory Module, which includes a new European-built robotic arm, is due to launch to the International Space Station on July 15, the European Space Agency station program manager said on April 20.
Confronted with the seemingly ever-worsening issue of space debris, European Space Agency experts expect automation technology to help with collision avoidance maneuvers, along with better coordination between satellite operators.
NASA and SpaceX completed the Launch Readiness Review (LRR) for the SpaceX Crew-2 mission on April 20, clearing the Falcon 9-Crew Dragon system for liftoff from Kennedy Space Center at 6:11 a.m. EDT on April 22, weather permitting.
It is “highly unlikely” that NASA will return to the Moon’s surface with human explorers in 2024 due to technical, budget and workplace constraints linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency’s inspector general says.
As the NASA-led International Space Station partnership strives to push the science and technology development potential of the orbital science lab, astronauts assigned to missions through 2023 will be equipping six of the station’s solar power channels with new Roll Out Solar Arrays that have been under development for a dozen years.
CAPE CANAVERAL—Amazon has contracted with United Launch Alliance to deliver nine batches of its Kuiper broadband satellites into low Earth orbit aboard Atlas V rockets, the companies said on April 19.
Startup nonprofit Carbon Mapper, Inc. is leading a coalition of commercial, state and federal government agencies and academic partners in an effort to identify and expand a global awareness of major point source emissions of carbon dioxide and methane in order to lessen their contribution to climate change.
