Space is hard, maiden flights are really hard

Relativity Space’s 3D printed Terran 1 rocket failed to reach orbit on its maiden launch on Wednesday evening, marking the sixth launch failure worldwide in the last four months. It was the fourth failure of a new booster on its maiden flight, and the fourth mishap resulting from an anomaly with the second stage.

Virgin Orbit stock rose by about 60 percent to $0.72 on Wednesday after Reuters reported that the company is negotiating a $200 million investment from Matthew Brown Companies to bring Richard Branson’s struggling launch provider back to full operations.

NASA has nixed the idea of suborbital training flights for its astronauts aboard vehicles launched by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic.

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A pair of struggling launch provider SPACs — Virgin Orbit and Astra Space — are hoping to stay in business in the weeks ahead.

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The seven launches successfully conducted last week were overshadowed by the decision by cash-strapped Virgin Orbit to pause operations for seven days and furlough nearly its entire staff.

WASHINGTON — United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) CEO reaffirmed a May 2023 flight date for the maiden flight of the company’s new rocket; SpaceX and Rocket Lab officials laid out plans for record launch years; and a Blue Origin executive said Jeff Bezos’ company might never reveal what caused one of its rockets to explode last year.

NASA has awarded L3Harris Technologies a $765.5 million contract to developer the GeoXO Imager (GXI)  for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) weather satellite program. NASA served as the contracting authority for the program.

Virgin Orbit’s decision to initiative a week-long pause in its operations starting Thursday has left more than 600 employees in California on unpaid furloughs wondering if they still have jobs while the cash-strapped company seeks funding to continue launching satellites.

WASHINGTON — During a panel discussion at Satellite 2023 Conference on Wednesday afternoon, United Launch Alliance (ULA) CEO Tory Bruno predicted there would be a shake out among small launch providers over the next 24 months that could leave only one or two companies standing. CNBC reports that process might have already begun earlier in the day with Richard Branson’s struggling launch provider.

WASHINGTON — Satellite companies that have spent decades operating broadcast satellites that beamed programming to millions are trying to adjust to a new environment where they have to unicast data to individuals, company executives said during a panel discussion at the Satellite 2023 Conference.

Also: Satellogic to Launch Crop Signals Device

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Launch provider Astra Space (NAS: ASTR) has hired Shareholder Intelligence Services (ShareIntel) to investigate possible illegal short selling of the company’s Class A common stock as an April 4 deadline looms to avoid being delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange.