Tag: New Space Conference
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Blue Origin racks up a full six minutes of firing time on BE-7 moon lander engine
Blue Origin’s BE-7 rocket engine executes a test firing in June. The green flame is produced by the engine’s ignition system. (Blue Origin Photo) RENTON, Wash. — Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture says it has test-fired its BE-7 rocket engine for the total six-minute duration it would need for a landing on…
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Government officials are reaching out to commercial ventures for space race revival
An artist’s conception shows a next-generation moon lander. (NASA Illustration) RENTON, Wash. — Fifty years after the landmark Apollo 11 mission blasted off for the climax of the U.S.-Soviet space race, officials from NASA and the Air Force highlighted the role of commercial space ventures in running a new race for American leadership on the…
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How a snafu over swarming satellites led Spaceflight to sharpen its launch policy
India’s PSLV-C40 rocket stands on its launch pad in advance of January’s liftoff. (ISRO Photo) When India’s PSLV rocket launched a host of satellites into orbit in January, one big piece was missing: the Federal Communications Commission’s authorization for Swarm Technologies’ super-miniaturized satellites. The FCC had nixed Swarm’s application on the grounds that the wallet-sized…
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Blue Origin targets moon landing by 2023 as an early step toward lunar settlement
A.C. Charania, Blue Origin’s business development director, addresses the NewSpace conference with a picture of his company’s founder, Jeff Bezos, looming in the background. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, is laying out a plan to support the creation of permanent settlements on the moon,…
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Virgin Orbit gets set to start flight tests of its LauncherOne air-launch system
Virgin Orbit Vice President Stephen Eisele talks about his company’s air-launch system during the NewSpace conference in Renton, Wash. (GeekWire Photo / Alan Boyle) RENTON, Wash. — British billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit venture is getting ready to put its LauncherOne rocket system through its first flight test in a little more than a week,…
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Why SpaceX and Boeing can sell spots on commercial space taxis to private travelers
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams wears a SpaceX spacesuit as she sits in a mockup for a Crew Dragon spaceship. (SpaceX Photo) RENTON, Wash. — When NASA’s Phil McAlister worked out the contracts with SpaceX and Boeing to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, he made sure they could make some money on the…
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Amid departures, Planetary Resources is holding out hope for an asteroid mining comeback
An artist’s conception shows the Arkyd-301 spacecraft, which was destined to start blazing a trail for asteroid prospecting in 2020. (Planetary Resources Illustration) It’s been months since Planetary Resources had to scale back its asteroid aspirations because a fundraising campaign came up short — and the quest for cash is continuing as space industry leaders converge…