Author: starpathwp-production
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SpaceX catches Booster 14 but loses Ship 33 on ascent
Ship 33 and Booster 14 lifted off at 4:37 PM CST from Starbase, Texas, for the seventh test flight of SpaceX’s Starship program. Following a clean liftoff and ascent from the Orbital Launch Pad at Starbase, Booster 14 and Ship 33 successfully separated, with Booster 14 returning to the launch site and being caught by…
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Voyager Space Rebrands as Voyager Technologies, Expands Defense Focus
Voyager Space rebranded as Voyager Technologies, seeking to emphasize its role in national security and space innovation, the company announced Jan. 16. The company restructured its operations into three segments: Defense & National Security, Space Solutions, and Starlab Space Stations. Defense & National Security is focused on defense systems, spectrum dominance, communications systems, guidance and…
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Stoke Space Secures $260 Million Investment for Reusable Rocket Development
Stoke Space, the rocket company building the world’s first 100% reusable medium-lift rocket, announced that it has raised $260 million in new Series C investment to drive continued growth and innovation. This investment more than doubles the company’s total funding, bringing it to $480 million. The funding round involves new and existing investors including Breakthrough…
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Varda Space Industries Launches W-2 Capsule with AFRL Payloads for Hypersonic Reentry Tests
Varda Space Industries, Inc. announced the successful launch of its second orbital processing and reentry capsule, W-2, which lifted off aboard the Transporter-12 rideshare mission with SpaceX from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The W-2 capsule carries payloads from Varda partners, including a spectrometer from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), and employs a…
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China conducts drone-assisted artificial snow-enhancement experiment in Xinjiang’s Kunlun Mountains
China used drones for the first time on Friday to carry out an artificial snow-enhancement experiment in the Kunlun Mountains in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The drone was equipped with ultra-long-duration water-increasing smoke flares, and successfully conducted the full combustion ignition experiment of the smoke flares at an altitude of 4,200 meters. The TL-120…
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China’s space station to conduct over 1,000 research projects
China’s space station will conduct more than 1,000 research projects, promote science popularization and enhance international cooperation over the next 10 to 15 years, according to the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Serving as a national space laboratory, China’s space station will organize in-depth interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary…
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There was a straight shot from Earth to the Moon and Mars last night
I almost missed it. Amid a bout of prime-time doomscrolling, a social media post reminded me there was something worth seeing in the sky. Mars disappeared behind the full Moon for a little more than an hour Monday night, an event visible across most of North America and parts of Africa. So I grabbed my…
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Space Startups Need Bridges, Not Barriers, to Work With the DoD
It’s hard to believe it’s been over three years since I retired from active duty after 34 years in the U.S. Air Force. In that time, I had the privilege of working with the best talent our nation, our allies, and our partners had to offer. I flew airplanes, commanded at multiple levels, worked in…
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Stoke Space brings in $260M for further development of its fully reusable rocket
Stoke Space’s rocket engine test lights up a vertical test stand in Moses Lake, Wash. (Stoke Space Photo) Kent, Wash.-based Stoke Space says it’s raised $260 million in a new founding round to finish the development of its fully reusable Nova rocket and complete construction of a launch complex in Florida. Investors in the Series…
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Firefly Aerospace and ispace Lunar Landers Are On the Way to the Moon
Two separate lunar landers built by commercial companies are now on the way to the Moon after a SpaceX launch early Wednesday morning. SpaceX launched the Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost Mission 1 along with ispace’s Resilience lunar lander on a Falcon 9 mission. The mission launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:11…