Alameda CA (SPX) Aug 08, 2023
Astra Space, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTR) has announced a strategic reallocation of its workforce from its Launch Services organization to its Astra Spacecraft Engines business to support its growing customer base and order backlog of its spacecraft engines. Astra last announced 278 cumulative committed orders of the Astra Spacecraft Engine through March 30, 2023, representing approximately $77 mil

Littleton CO (SPX) Aug 09, 2023
DISH Network Corporation (Nasdaq: DISH) and EchoStar Corporation (Nasdaq: SATS) has announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for DISH Network to combine with EchoStar Corporation in an all-stock merger at a fixed exchange ratio. The transaction was negotiated and recommended by Special Committees of Independent Directors of both companies and unanimously approved by the Boards of

Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 08, 2023
Set to launch this fall, NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) project will test how lasers could speed up data transmission far beyond the capacity of current radio frequency systems used in space. What's known as a technology demonstration, DSOC may pave the way for broadband communications that will help support humanity's next giant leap: when NASA sends astronauts to Mars. T

Here is the latest regular report on progress made and upcoming steps towards inaugural flight of the new Ariane 6 launcher. 

The next update will be detailed at a media briefing to be held in September. 

Image:

This image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows a massive galaxy cluster called WHL0137-08, and at the right, an inset of the most strongly magnified galaxy known in the Universe’s first billion years: the Sunrise Arc. Within that galaxy is the most distant star ever detected, first discovered by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) instrument reveals the star, nicknamed Earendel, to be a massive B-type star more than twice as hot as our Sun, and about a million times more luminous. Stars of this mass often have companions. Astronomers did not

The derivative impact on the smallsat industrial base is also clear: smallsat space hardware and launch companies that have built a track record can capitalize on this shift, driving growth and expanded moats, while newer entrants may find it increasingly difficult to carve out a defensible niche.

Smallsats need standardizing now more than ever

The post From Customization to Standardization appeared first on SpaceNews.

BlackSky, one of Rocket Lab’s biggest launch customers, has bought an additional five Electron launches for its next-generation imaging satellites.

German startup Vyoma has ordered two pilot satellites for its proposed space debris-monitoring constellation from EnduroSat, the eight-year-old Bulgarian cubesat specialist.

NASA has left the door open for changing the scope of Artemis 3, currently set to be the first crewed lunar landing of the program, if key elements suffer major delays.