MOJAVE, Calif. (Stratolaunch PR) — Stratolaunch announces the successful completion of its fifth flight test of Roc, the world’s largest flying aircraft. The aircraft flew for 4 hours and 58 minutes over the Mojave Desert and reached an altitude of 22,500 feet (6858 m). 

VANCOUVER, BC (Australian Goldfields PR) — Australian Goldfields Limited (the “Company”) (CSE: AUGF) (OTC: GRXXF) (Frankfurt: G0A) is pleased to provide an exploration update for the Nortia Project (19 blocks totaling 5,510 hectares) and the Cuprite East (6,936 hectares) and Cuprite West (2,980 hectares) Projects, all located in Pilbara, Western Australia.  

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — The SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft with NASA astronauts Kayla Barron, Raja Chari, and Tom Marshburn, as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer inside undocked from the forward port of the International Space Station’s Harmony module at 1:20 a.m. EDT to complete a nearly six-month science mission. The return timeline with approximate times (all times Eastern): Thursday, May 5 11:48 p.m.    Trunk jettison11:53 p.m.    Deorbit burn FRIDAY, MAY 6 12:04 p.m.    Nosecone […]

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

As my bare feet sank into the soft white sand, I realized the park ranger at the gate had been right — for the most part.

TUCSON, Ariz. and DENVER, May 4, 2022 (Phantom Space PR) — Phantom Space Corporation, a space applications company, today announced an agreement to purchase more than 200 rocket engines from Ursa Major, America’s only independent pure-play rocket propulsion company. The order includes Ursa Major’s 5,000-Pound Thrust Hadley engines and the new 50,000-pound thrust Ripley engines. By using Ursa Major’s Hadley engines, Phantom’s Daytona rocket is slated for orbital launch in 2023, just three years after Phantom Space was formed. 

WASHINGTON, (NASA PR) — NASA has recognized a new generation of potential space explorers who competed in the agency’s 28th annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge.

High school and college students from around the U.S. and world have spent the last eight months designing, building, and testing their rovers for the challenge – one of the original seven NASA Artemis Student Challenges. NASA announced the winners during a virtual awards ceremony April 29. The challenge involved 91 teams, including 58 colleges and 33 high schools.

The challenge tasked U.S. and international student teams with designing, engineering, and testing a human-powered rover on a course simulating terrain found on rocky bodies in the solar system. Teams also performed mission assignments while negotiating the course, including sample retrievals and spectrographic analysis.

First-of-its-kind product provides instant connectivity for civil defense and aid agencies in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

SINGAPORE, May 2, 2022 (Kacific PR)— Kacific Broadband Satellites Group is launching an innovative emergency connectivity solution, CommsBox, designed to provide broadband service in emergency or disaster zones rapidly.

ARLINGTON, Va. (Air & Space Forces Association PR) — AFA’s StellarXplorers Space STEM program capped its eighth season by declaring Team Panther #3 from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School in Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., the champion of its National Space Design Competition Finals held at Space Center Houston.

COLUMBIA, Ill. (NanoAvionics PR) — NanoAvionics has been selected to build a 12U nanosatellite bus for an in-orbit demonstration of NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3). This a result of a contract between NASA Ames Research Center and AST for a 12U bus to carry NASA’s payload into low Earth orbit (LEO) including an approximately 800 square foot (74 square meter) composite boom and solar sail system.  

The aim of the ACS3 mission is to replace conventional rocket propellants by developing and testing solar sails using sunlight beams to thrust the nanosatellite. These solar sail propulsion systems are designed for future small interplanetary spacecrafts destined for low-cost deep-space and science missions requiring long-duration, low-thrust propulsion.  

Strategic agreement positions Satellogic to achieve weekly remapping of the entire surface of the Earth in 2023 and over 20 daily revisits of any point of interest, unlocking countless commercial, sustainability, and government applications

New York, NY, May 4, 2022 (Satellogic PR) – Satellogic Inc. (NASDAQ: SATL), a leader in sub-meter resolution Earth Observation (“EO”) data collection, announced today that it has signed a new Multiple Launch Agreement (“MLA”) with SpaceX reserving launch capacity for its next 68 satellites. This new MLA follows the current MLA covering 2022 launches, and confirms that SpaceX continues to be Satellogic’s preferred vendor for rideshare missions, meeting the capacity demands of Satellogic’s constellation roadmap and providing shorter periods between satellite development and deployment.

• Lord Willetts previously served as Minister for Universities and Science as well as holding Chair and Board positions across the space and science sector
• Lord Willetts will work with the recently appointed CEO of the UK Space Agency, Dr Paul Bate, to deliver on the government’s vision for space

LONDON (UK Space Agency PR) — Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has appointed Lord David Willetts as the Chair of the UK Space Agency’s Board, the government announced today.

The appointment comes at an exciting time for the agency, looking ahead to the UK’s first domestic launch this year, and following the recent publication of the National Space Strategy, which sets out the government’s long term commitment to building on the UK’s existing strengths in order to develop the UK as a world class space economy.

LONDON (Seraphim Space PR) — Seraphim Space Manager LLP, the manager of Seraphim Space Investment Trust plc, the world’s first listed Space Tech Fund, is delighted to announce that Patrick McCall, former Senior Partner of Virgin Group, will join the company.

Patrick joins Seraphim as a Venture Partner following a long and distinguished career in the space, communication and transport sector, He worked for two decades in the senior team driving the expansion of the Virgin Group and as the Chair of Virgin Orbit and Virgin Galactic. His achievements include financing the development of Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit, culminating in the flotations of both companies. He also played a key role in agreeing the launch agreement for Virgin Orbit from the Spaceport in Cornwall later this year.