News
Daily coverage of the global space industry with an emphasis on business and political news.
WFIRST passes preliminary design review
A NASA space telescope recently completed a major review and is making good progress, project officials say, despite uncertainty about its funding.
Here are all the Readers’ Choice winners of the 2019 SpaceNews Awards
Readers voted in October to select the individuals, organizations and accomplishments most deserving of recognition at the 2019 SpaceNews Awards for Excellence and Innovation. Here is the complete list of the Readers' Choice Award winners for each category.
SpaceX launches second batch of Starlink broadband satellites
SpaceX completed its second launch of 60 Starlink satellites Nov. 11, making its own system the largest commercial telecommunications satellite constellation in orbit.
Soyuz-5 rocket to enter service in mid-2020s
The Russian company that markets launch vehicles commercially says it doesn’t expect the new Soyuz-5 medium-lift rocket to be available until the mid-2020s, despite leveraging existing designs and facilities.
Telesat LEO manufacturing decision bumped to 2020
Telesat Canada will likely choose the winner of a now three-way race to build its low Earth orbit broadband constellation in the first few months of 2020 instead of this year, CEO Dan Goldberg said Nov. 5.
Air Force to require cybersecurity audits of commercial satellite communications providers
The Infrastructure Asset Pre-Assessment (IA-Pre) program will be run by the Air Force Space Command’s commercial satellite communications office.
OneWeb’s first big deployment launch slips to January
OneWeb has delayed the beginning of its regular launch campaign by a month to allow more testing of its small broadband satellites.
Astronaut preparing for ISS mission with reduced crew
A NASA astronaut flying to the International Space Station next spring could be the only American on the station for an extended period because of uncertainty in the status of commercial crew vehicles.
Avio anticipates Vega C upgrade funding at ESA ministerial, Vega return to flight in March
Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo said during a Nov. 7 earnings call, said Vega is on track for a return to flight by March, though what payload will launch on the mission is still to be determined.
Missing pin blamed for Boeing pad abort parachute anomaly
Boeing said Nov. 7 that a misplaced pin prevented a parachute from deploying during a pad abort test of its CST-100 Starliner vehicle three days earlier, the only flaw in a key test of that commercial crew vehicle.
FOMS reports high-quality ZBLAN production on ISS
Fiber Optic Manufacturing in Space (FOMS) Inc. presented the results Nov. 7 of its successful campaign to produce optical fiber on the International Space Station.
Defense intelligence chief paints bleak picture of the space battlefield
DoD wants to increase awareness of the threats the nation faces in space but classification is a problem.
Ursa raises $15 million in Series B funding round
Ursa Space Systems, a geospatial analytics company that specializes in the application of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, raised $15 million in a Series B funding round led by Razor’s Edge Ventures.
White House warns Congress about Artemis funding
The White House warned Congress in a recent letter that without funding increases for its exploration programs, NASA won’t be able to achieve the goal of landing humans on the moon in 2024.
Air Force leaders seek to “flip the switch” on innovation
Over two days, the U.S. Air Force awarded $22.5 million in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding to 30 companies attending the first Air Force Space Pitch Day in San Francisco.
Defense Innovation Unit helping Army find alternatives to GPS
DIU received 25 proposals for the Dismounted Assured PNT System
