WASHINGTON — Bill Nelson is one step closer to being NASA’s next administrator after his former colleagues on the Senate Commerce Committee voted to advance his nomination.

The committee, meeting in executive session April 28, favorably reported his nomination on a voice vote and without debate.

TAMPA, Fla. — Serial entrepreneur Max Polyakov has made the next step in his vertically integrated space strategy, acquiring South African small satellite specialist Dragonfly Aerospace for an undisclosed sum.

Dragonfly mainly builds high-resolution cameras for spacecraft but plans to produce small satellites that could be launched by Firefly Aerospace, which Polyakov owns through his Silicon Valley-based investment vehicle Noosphere Ventures Partners.

Arlington VA (SPX) Apr 27, 2021
The U.S. Space Force hosted its first Space Engagement Talks (SET) with the Israeli Air Force during separate virtual sessions April 19-20. The talks brought together two nations with a shared interest in ensuring access to and peaceful use of outer space. "Dating back to 1948, America was the first country in the world to recognize modern Israel as a nation," said Lt. Gen. William L

Santa Monica CA (SPX) Apr 27, 2021
Humans have explored and exploited near-earth space for more than six decades. More recently, the past two decades have seen the start of a New Space Era, characterized by more spacefaring nations and companies and a growing risk of collisions and conflict. Yet the basic treaties and mechanisms that were crafted 50 years ago to govern space activities have only marginally changed. Th

Santa Barbara CA (SPX) Apr 26, 2021
Cows don't seem to have a whole lot going on most of the time. They're raised to spend their days grazing in the field, raised for the purpose of providing milk or meat, or producing more cows. So when students in UC Santa Barbara ecologist Doug McCauley's lab found themselves staring intently at satellite image upon image of bovine herds at Point Reyes National Seashore, it was funny, in a "Far

WASHINGTON — The first lunar lander mission by Intuitive Machines, which had been scheduled for launch late this year, has been delayed to early 2022 by its launch provider, SpaceX.

Intuitive Machines had planned to launch its Nova-C lander on the IM-1 mission in the fourth quarter of this year on a SpaceX Falcon 9, carrying a combination of commercial and NASA payloads.

Space is getting crowded. Old satellites, rocket bodies and fragments of both are leaving little space for new satellites to reside in that is free from debris.

The risk of collision with debris and even functioning satellites is increasing, especially in low-Earth orbit, putting many of Earth’s climate, ocean and land monitoring missions in harm’s way.

ESA is working alongside private business to clean up space by developing new missions and technologies that will remove debris from orbit. No space agency or business could solve the debris problem alone, but if it becomes

Image: Hot and cold space radio testing

Taiyuan (XNA) Apr 28, 2021
China launched its Long March-6 rocket on Tuesday, sending nine commercial satellites into space. The rocket blasted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province at 11:20 a.m. (Beijing Time). This was the 366th flight mission of the Long March rocket series. The satellites, including Qilu-1 and Qilu-4, have entered their planned orbits and will