On Monday, UBS analyst Myles Walton downgraded Virgin Galactic (ticker: SPCE) from Hold to Sell as the company is delaying commercial space flights. The news disappointed investors who had expected revenue-generating, commercial operations to start early next year. Last week Virgin said they would reorganise their development and test flight schedule.
Read More »Lucy experiencing solar array fault shortly after launch
Following a successful launch on Saturday, analysis showed that Lucy’s second array had not fully latched. NASA is currently investigating what caused the failure and how they could achieve full deployment of the solar array. The solar panels were successfully deployed 91 minutes after a smooth launch.
Read More »Space Café Radio: On Tour in Geneva – Almudena Azcárate Ortega of UNIDIR
In this Space Café Radio – on tour in Geneva, SpaceWatch.Global event coordinator Chiara Moenter spoke with Almudena Azcárate Ortega, Associate Researcher at UNIDIR during the UNIDIR Outer Space Security Conference 2021 about her research, the work at UNIDIR, and the work that went into the organization of the conferences.
Read More »Lucy mission launches to ‘fossils’ of planet formation
NASA’s Lucy mission to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids successfully launched on Saturday on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41. Over the next 12 years, Lucy will fly by one main-belt, and seven Trojan asteroids. The spacecraft will investigate “fossils” of planetary formation.
Read More »#SpaceWatchGL on the road: A review of the 2021 Wernher Von Braun Symposium
The 2021 Wernher Von Braun Symposium, October 12 - 14, an annual event that brings together the rocket, propulsion and aerospace part of the NASA community, has just ended in Huntsville, Alabama. This year’s priorities were linked to the upcoming launch of Artemis I, the first unmanned phase of the long-term Artemis project,
Read More »#SpaceWatchGL Opinion:Space Marketing: Competing in the new commercial space industry
In the past few months, the space industry experienced some new milestones. Civilian astronauts launched into space. Richard Branson flew Virgin Galactic on July 11, 2021. Jeff Bezos flew with Blue Origin on July 20, 2019, and a second flight on October 13, 2021, with the iconic William Shatner. SpaceX’s Inspiration4 launched on Sept 15, 2021,
Read More »SpaceLink selects OHB for satellite manufacturing contract
SpaceLink announced it has chosen OHB Systems as the preferred tenderer for the initial constellation of four high-capacity optical relay satellites after a comprehensive tender process. The parties are currently in advanced contract negotiations about the manufacturing and delivery of the initial constellation.
Read More »Planet Labs unveils new imagery satellites
Planet Labs announced the launch of Pelican, a new line of imagery satellites to upgrade the company’s existing constellation of the 21 SkySat spacecraft. With the new, higher-resolution satellites the company can provide faster and near-real time data to customers, Planet said.
Read More »#SpaceWatchGL Opinion: Reconciling Commercial Space Activities with the Foundational Principles of Space Law
Since the dawn of the first ‘Space Age’ in 1957, space-related technologies have transformed our lives, revolutionising communications, medicine, navigation, finance, agriculture and computing, to name but a few. Space is an important element of critical infrastructure to support the world economy, international trade and investment, strategic thinking, military strategy, national security,
Read More »Rocket Lab acquires Advanced Solutions engineering firm
Rocket Lab has acquired Advanced Solutions, a Colorado-based aerospace engineering firm, for $40 million, the company announced. Advanced Solution delivers mission proven space software, mission simulation and test systems, and Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) solutions.
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