Space Commerce

Orbital ATK Sues DARPA Over Competing Satellite Servicing Program

Orbital ATK Sues DARPA Over Competing Satellite Servicing Program

  In-space satellite servicing has been a long-standing goal for both those who own and operate Earth orbiting spacecraft, as well as those who have dreamed of developing business models based on servicing them. In the past, the latter was often represented by various NASA factions, with in-space satellite repair being a major talking point […]

Deep Space Industries Announces First Asteroid Mission

Deep Space Industries Announces First Asteroid Mission

  Coming right on the heels of the announcement by Moon Express that it has received clearance for a historic first commercial trip to the Moon, Deep Space Industries is officially announcing plans to send the first private mission to an asteroid. Notably, while the company’s long term goal is asteroid mining, its first mission […]

Luxembourg and Deep Space Industries Team Up to Advance Asteroid Mining

Luxembourg and Deep Space Industries Team Up to Advance Asteroid Mining

The United States is not the only country seeking to establish a sound legal framework for domestic corporations to go to work in outer space. In Europe, Luxembourg has stepped into the fray with an initiative of its own, titled spaceresources.lu. Last week, it announced a partnership with U.S. based Deep Space Industries to support […]

Establishing a Legal Framework for Deep Space Development

Establishing a Legal Framework for Deep Space Development

As the NewSpace era gradually transitions from addressing the challenges of reaching orbit to building out the business cases for what can happen once you do, regulatory issues are going to continue to play a significant, and in many cases, enhanced role. For those who are prone to be unhappy about seeing the advance of […]

Space Based Solar Power Wins Big in D3 Competition

Space Based Solar Power Wins Big in D3 Competition

Space based solar power has long been one of the key concepts that advocates and visionaries have hung their hats on as a possible leveraging industry which could catapult a global space economy. For reasons which are hard to fathom considering how much the United States spends on certain space endeavors, it has never gained […]

2015 Was The Breakout Year for Investing in Space

2015 Was The Breakout Year for Investing in Space

President Calvin Coolidge famously once said, “the chief business of the American people, is business.” Actually the full quote, made during an address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1925, was “After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with producing, buying, selling, investing and prospering in […]

Posted in: NewSpace, Space Commerce
E Tu, Samsung?  Another Constellation May Be Taking Shape

E Tu, Samsung? Another Constellation May Be Taking Shape

Korean manufacturing giant Samsung may be adding its name to the list of companies proposing massive satellite constellations to meet the seemingly insatiable need for internet broadband, particularly in parts of the world where wired solutions are problematic. In a technical paper, Samsung President for R&D America, Farooq Khan details a proposal for a LEO constellation […]

Posted in: Space Commerce
Spire Opens Glasgow Office for Weather Cubesat Venture

Spire Opens Glasgow Office for Weather Cubesat Venture

Spire, the San Francisco based smallsat company which began through the educational cubesat venture Ardusat, announced yesterday that it has been awarded $2.9 million in grants from the Scottish government. The award comes as Spire announced that it is opening a Glasgow, Scotland office to focus on its fleet of GPS Radio Occultation (GPS-RO) cubesats. […]

Posted in: NewSpace, Space Commerce
NASA Prints First 3-D Object in Space

NASA Prints First 3-D Object in Space

The first object printed in space is held up by International Space Station Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore.  Image Credit NASA This week marked a significant “first” in space, the first ever use of a 3-D printer to manufacture an object in zero-G. With 3-D printing, also known as additive manufacturing sweeping the industrial world, it […]

Update: CubeSat Misfire Outside ISS

Update: CubeSat Misfire Outside ISS

Update: A report in SpaceNews on the NanoRacks cubesat deployment problem includes a statement from the company confirming that the issue is electrical rather than mechanical, and is apparently tied to the deployer’s command box, as a new one will be sent to the station on a future supply flight. Deployments are estimated to resume “in […]

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