Author: starpathwp-production
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Space Force Clears Falcon 9 for USSF-385 Launch From Vandenberg
Base officials cautioned that residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties may hear one or more sonic booms during the launch, depending on weather and other conditions. Launch dates and times remain subject to change due to mission requirements. Following stage separation, the first stage booster will return and touch down on…
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U.S. Space Force Schedules 2027 On-Orbit Servicing Missions With Astroscale U.S. and Starfish Space
On Sept. 23, 2026, speaking during an industry webinar, Col. Scott Carstetter, director of servicing, mobility, and logistics at Space Systems Command (SSC), outlined military plans to execute two commercial satellite servicing demonstration missions in 2027. The upcoming flight operations will evaluate commercial refueling and maneuvering services for high-value defense payloads operating in geosynchronous Earth…
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Electron Nears 100th Flight With 13th Synspective Satellite Delivery
The mission, named “Owlright Owlright Owlright,” lifted off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand, at 12:39 p.m. NZST. The launch continued a multi-year partnership under which Electron has deployed all 13 StriX satellites to orbit for Synspective with 100 percent mission success. The satellite expands Synspective’s synthetic aperture radar constellation, which…
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SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell Files SEC Intent to Sell $52 Million in Executive Equity
On Sept. 25, 2026, SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell submitted a regulatory notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicating an intent to sell up to 342,170 equity shares in the private launch and satellite operator. Filed under SEC Form 144, the proposed equity liquidation is valued at approximately $52…
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Blue Origin Unveils 20-Metre Power Tower to Supply Electricity at the Lunar South Pole
Generating continuous solar power on the Moon is difficult. Away from the poles, a lunar day and night each last roughly two weeks, leaving solar panels without direct sunlight for long stretches. The South Pole is different. Because the Moon is tilted by only about 1.5 degrees, the Sun remains very low on the horizon…
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Planet Labs Ships Updated Pelican-12 to Florida for SpaceX Launch
Pelican is Planet’s next-generation high-resolution imaging line, and the Pelican-12 unit is an updated variant of that hardware. Shipping the satellite to the launch site signals that the company’s constellation refresh is advancing. Pelican-12 has arrived in Florida for a ride to orbit aboard a SpaceX vehicle. Planet Labs, which trades on the New York…
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Philadelphia Designer Wins $300,000 in NASA Mars Food System Challenge
Mars to Table launched in January 2026 as a follow on to the earlier Deep Space Food Challenge, which NASA ran in collaboration with the Canadian Space Agency. The original challenge focused on prototyping novel food production methods. The 2026 competition asked teams to conceptualize space meals not as individual technology components but as a…
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Blue Origin Raises $10 Billion in First Outside Funding Round at $140 Billion Valuation
Bezos is contributing another $2 billion to the round, bringing his total investment in Blue Origin to roughly $30 billion since he founded the company in 2000. The financing could ultimately exceed the initial $10 billion target. The fundraising surfaced financial projections that point to steep growth. Blue Origin generated about $800 million in revenue…
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Europe Decides in December Whether to Launch Its Own Astronauts. The Money Comes Later.
European ministers meeting in Rome on Dec. 15 will be asked whether Europe should build its own crew transportation capability, and the question put to them runs well past a capsule. Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency, set out the scope on the opening morning of World Space Business Week in Paris…
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NASA Chief Says Chang’e 7 Delay May Have Spared US a Race for Shackleton Crater
China delayed the Chang’e 7 launch last month without a detailed explanation. The mission targets the lunar south pole, the same region NASA intends to reach. The high rims of Shackleton Crater create permanently shadowed regions known as cold traps, where water ice and other useful materials may have accumulated over billions of years. In…