SAN FRANCISCO (Spire PR) –Spire, a satellite-powered data company, announced today that it has raised $25 million in Series A funding. Spire is changing its name from Nanosatisfi, with rebranding rolling out through the end of the year.

“We listen to the three-quarters of the Earth that is remote or covered by water. Our customers make global business decisions and require detailed data in regions that have been critically underserved. Spire’s offering of high frequency, high accuracy data resonated with them, particularly in the areas of global trade, weather, shipping and supply chain, illegal fishing, and maritime domain awareness. Modern remote sensing traditionally focuses on the small fraction of Earth that is covered in land and is densely populated with people,” says Peter Platzer, Spire CEO. “What happens, particularly over the oceans, is critical in understanding global systems, and our proprietary technology delivers truly global perspectives that enable our customers to make smarter decisions.”

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Los Angeles, California, July 29, 2014  — Rocket Lab announced today its plan to revolutionize the global space industry with the creation of Electron, a lightweight, cost-effective rocket, making it easier for companies to launch small satellites into orbit.

Rocket Lab is building the world’s first carbon-composite launch vehicle at its Auckland, New Zealand facility. The development of Electron will reduce the price of delivering a satellite into orbit. At a cost of less than $5 million dollars, this represents a drastic cost reduction compared to existing dedicated launch services[1].

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Pilots Michael Masucci and Pete Siebold have landed #SpaceShipTwo safely after today’s successful glide test flight. Well done, team! — Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) July 29, 2014 WK2 has just released #SpaceShipTwo for today’s glide flight test. Our favorite reusable spaceplane is now flying freely for the 32nd time. — Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) July 29, 2014 #SpaceShipTwo just took off. This is SS2’s 51st flight (and WK2’s 156th). Even when it […]

Space Access Update #136 7/27/14
Copyright 2014 by Space Access Society

In this Issue:

– Bill Gaubatz
– Experienced Engineering Teams And US Space Launch Development Policy
– SLS Sole-Sourcing
– 2014 Space Politics: Halftime Report

• Senate Appropriations Impasse, Other Legislation
• Commercial Crew & Cargo at Crossroads
• Defense Launch & Propulsion Politics

– Supporting Space Access

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Hey everyone. Startup Weekend: Space finished up last night at the Rainbow Mansion in Cupertino. I had a great time being involved in one of the teams, Makernautics, which wants to develop software tools to make building CubeSats easier. Nine teams competed over the weekend. The winner was a group called BioCube, which is developing a life-support system for CubeSats that will allow researchers to study the effects of microgravity […]

World View balloon and capsule at altitude. (Credit: World View)

San Francisco, CA, July 28, 2014 (World View PR) – World View Enterprises, the commercial spaceflight balloon company, has announced plans to fly research and education payloads during its balloon test flight phase as part of its newly launched Pathfinder program.

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This week on The Space Show with David Livingston: 1. Monday, July 28, 2014: 2-3:30 PM PDT (5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): We welcome back JAY BARBREE, NBC News space reporter and author of the new book, “Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight.” 2. Tuesday, July 29, 2014, 7 PM PDT (10 PM EDT, 9 PM CDT): We welcome back DR. PAT PATTERSON to discuss the upcoming SmallSat Conference […]

Video Caption: Will Pomerantz, Virgin Galactic’s VP of Special Projects, explains how the second space age promises to open up a new world of exciting opportunities.

Hey all. I’m skipping most of the sessions at NewSpace 2014 today to participate in Startup Weekend: Space at the Rainbow Mansion in Cupertino. On a team working on a very cool business plan. This is a lot of fun. Looking forward to pitching to judges on Sunday evening. Look for updates over the weekend @spacecom

Space News has an update on SpaceX’s lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force over the 36-core bulk buy from ULA: Judge Susan Braden on July 24 directed the two sides to explore a third alternative: mediation. As part of that process, she directed the Air Force to provide SpaceX with information by Aug. 18 on the missions in question to allow the company to determine which ones it could launch. […]