Space Exploration

Investment in the design and development of space science missions results in between £2.5 and £4 in returns for each £1 invested, a new UK report shows. £523 million in funding from the UK Space Agency to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Space Science Programme (SSP) generated £1.4 billion of …

Barbara Belvisi is the CEO and founder of Interstellar Lab, a company that builds space-inspired villages here on Earth. Before starting such an unusual venture, she worked as an investor and co-founded a few STEM initiatives in Europe – namely Hello Tomorrow and Hardware Club. She then became the youngest …

Airbus-built Solar Orbiter has been fitted inside its protective fairing, mounted on top of the launcher and is now ready for its launch from Cape Canaveral in the evening of 9 February 2020. The next time the satellite will see the Sun will be when it’s in space on its …

The first European device to land on the Moon this decade will be a drill and sample analysis package, and the teams behind it are one step closer to flight as part of Russia’s Luna-27 mission. The main goal of the Luna-27 lander is to study the composition of the …

The cover on the CHEOPS space telescope was opened successfully on 29 January 2020. It is now being tested for precision and its first images are being produced. CHEOPS is a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Switzerland, led by the University of Bern, in collaboration with …

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket with Sun Explorer Solar Orbiter is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida on 7-8 February 2020. RUAG Space is supplying the thermal insulation, the structure of the satellite, and the on-board computer. “We have delivered key components, which enable this important …

By Raphael Roettgen We are only one month into the new decade and, while we have not yet seen the SpaceX/BlueOrigin/OneWeb type mega financing rounds of 2019, this month has brought over U.S.$170 million in disclosed financing transactions in the space sector. The financing rounds have covered companies in many …

By Raphael Roettgen 2020 promises to be a big year in space, but not only for the well-known events you keep on hearing about, such as the expected crewed launches from U.S. soil on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule and Boeing’s Starliner. In the background, thousands of new space entrepreneurs are …

Russia is willing to assist the Central Asian republic of Turkmenistan in developing its second satellite and in the selection, training, and launch of the first Turkmen astronaut, according to Yuri Baturin – vice president of the Tsiolkovsky Russian Academy of Cosmonauts, politician, and a former cosmonaut – during a …

NASA has finalized the first 16 science experiments and technology demonstrations, ranging from chemistry to communications, to be delivered to the surface of the Moon under the Artemis program. Scheduled to fly next year, the payloads will launch aboard the first two lander deliveries of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload …