Australia’s Electro Optic Systems has demonstrated technology that is key to tracking and moving space debris in low Earth orbit that uses a laser-generated guide star and adaptive optics to remove atmospheric distortion and increase the laser power on target.
Former NASA astronaut and U S. Air Force test pilot Jack Fischer has joined with the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership (BAHEP) to provide the emerging Houston Spaceport with TexSpace, a future nonprofit focused on facilitating innovation within the space enterprise.
OrbComm, the low Earth orbit constellation provider of industrial connectivity services whose roots date to 1990s commercial space efforts, will be acquired by GI Partners, a U.S.-based investor in data infrastructure businesses, in an all-cash deal worth around $1.1 billion, including net debt.
The EU, the European Space Agency and their member states should convene in a high-level summit next year and define a European ambition in space, says Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s new director general.
The Biden administration is requesting $24.7 billion for NASA for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, a 6.3% hike over the agency’s current funding level.
Russia’s Soyuz MS-18 capsule carrying NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov docked to the International Space Station early April 9.
NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts initiative has awarded $5 million in grants to seven innovators, among them a Jet Propulsion Laboratory researcher investigating the possible construction of a lunar far side radio telescope using wire mesh embedded in an impact crater by small climbing robots.
Rocket Lab plans to conduct its second parachute-assisted booster splashdown next month, as it works to evolve the Electron small satellite launch vehicle into a reusable rocket, the company said on April 8.
The U.S. Space Force intends to establish a Space Systems Command this summer, pending the nomination and Senate confirmation of a three-star commander.
Airbus and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) are to develop a terminal for aircraft to receive laser-based communications.
Philippe Baptiste, an engineer by training with experience in science, industry and politics, is to succeed Jean-Yves Le Gall at the helm of French space agency CNES after the country’s parliament approved the nomination.
SpaceX on April 7 completed its eighth mission of the year to deploy its Starlink broadband network, boosting the constellation to about 1,400 spacecraft.
Swedish-British small satellite manufacturer AAC Clyde Space this month entered a conditional agreement to buy privately owned Omnisys Instruments, a Swedish developer and manufacturer of sensors for space projects, in a deal worth about $8.7 million.
Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine will chair the advisory board at Voyager Space Holdings, the market’s first vertically integrated new-space holding company that recently acquired the Launch Co, Nanoracks and others.
The Russian government has approved an extension of its bilateral cooperation with the U.S. on exploration and the use of space for peaceful purposes for 10 more years, until Dec 31, 2030.
As SpaceX prepared to deliver its 24th batch of Starlink satellites into orbit this week, President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said beta trials will continue until the network, designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet, is more reliable.
In a major growth move following the 2020 acquisition of Cobham by private-equity investors, the company’s radio-frequency products arm has forged a strategic alliance to bring 3D-printed waveguide technology to U.S. space, electronic warfare, radar and other applications.
NASA’s Mars Ingenuity helicopter has been deployed from the Perseverance rover, kicking off a 31-day test campaign to demonstrate powered flight on another planet.
Lockheed Martin is doubling down on investments in small satellite launch service companies, signing a block buy with startup ABL Space Systems for up to 58 missions through 2029.
In a first for a U.S. spacecraft at the International Space Station, SpaceX’s Crew-1 Dragon and its four-member crew swapped docking ports early April 5 to prepare for an upcoming crew exchange and provide a parking spot for a resupply version of the Dragon.
