Author: starpathwp-production
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Starlab—with half the volume of the ISS—will fit inside Starship’s payload bay
The Starlab commercial space station will launch on SpaceX’s Starship rocket, officials said this week. Starlab is a joint venture between the US-based Voyager Space and the European-based multinational aerospace corporation Airbus. The venture is building a large station with a habitable volume equivalent to half the pressurized volume of the International Space Station and…
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Rocket Lab Successfully Launches First Electron Mission of 2024
Rocket Lab USA, one of the global leaders in launch services and space systems, launched its first Electron mission for 2024, a space-junk-focused mission for Spire Global and NorthStar Earth & Space. The ‘Four Of A Kind’ mission for Spire’s customer NorthStar successfully launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 19:34…
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SDA Modifies Momentus Contract for Defense Applications of Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle
Momentus, a U.S. commercial space company that offers satellite buses, transportation, and other in-space infrastructure services, has been awarded a contract modification valued at $1,196,404 by the Space Development Agency to continue development of the Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle for the Department of Defense (DoD) Mission Requirements. Through this Small Business Innovation Research Award, “Orbital…
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Why interstellar objects like ‘Oumuamua and Borisov may hold clues to exoplanets
On October 17 and 18, 2017, an unusual object sped across the field of view of a large telescope perched near the summit of a volcano on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The Pan-STARRS1 telescope was designed to survey the sky for transient events, like asteroid or comet flybys. But this was different: The object…
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Sierra Space unveils fully integrated Dream Chaser spaceplane amid testing campaign
For the first time, Sierra Space mated its Dream Chaser spaceplane to the Shooting Star module amid shake table testing at NASA’s Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now An orbital-class spaceplane is one step closer to returning to the International Space Station. As part of an on-going test campaign, Sierra Space mated…
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For the first time NASA has asked industry about private missions to Mars
NASA is starting to take its first steps toward opening a commercial pathway to Mars. This week, the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued a new solicitation to the industry titled “Exploring Mars Together: Commercial Services Studies.” This is a request for proposals from the US space industry to tell NASA how they would complete…
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Space Systems Command Selects Northrop Grumman For Space Refueling Standard and Tanker
Northrop Grumman on Monday said its Passive Refueling Module (PRM) has been selected by Space Systems Command (SSC) as the first refueling interface standard to refuel satellites in space to prolong their lives and continue to conduct operations dynamically. The PRM has completed a critical design review level of maturity and is now preparing for…
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Sidus Space’s 3D Hybrid Satellite Successfully Completes Launch Processing
Sidus Space, a multi-faceted Space, and Data-as-a-Service company, announced the successful completion of launch processing of LizzieSat at the Astrotech Space Operations facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Sidus team executed the final steps in the launch processing of LizzieSat, including mating the satellite to the separation system and the launch vehicle…
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Launch Roundup: NASA’s PACE mission, Chinese art satellites, and more Starlink missions
February started with two Chinese launches. On Feb. 2, a Long March 2C rocket launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China at 23:37 UTC, carrying 11 satellites for a Geely Constellation. A Chinese multistage solid rocket, Jielong-3, launched from a barge in coastal waters off Yangjiang in the South China Sea a few…
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Q-KON Implements Eutelsat OneWeb LEO Satellite Service in Africa
Q-KON, a satellite service provider based in Africa, has implemented Eutelsat OneWeb Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) connectivity at a site in Africa as part of a broader roll-out. Q-KON integrated Eutelsat OneWeb connectivity at the first branch of a “leading digital bank” to offer intranet, SD-WANs, branch online management, data backhauls, staff and customer Wi-Fi and…