ROCKVILLE, Md. (Quantum Space PR) – Quantum Space (Quantum) today announced it received a $15 million investment from Prime Movers Lab, a U.S.-based venture capital firm. The investment enables Quantum to begin expansion of QuantumNet, a cornerstone project aimed to provide data products and digital services for customers from cislunar space. Quantum plans to close the Series A round of funding by the end of 2022. 

Reports say that a new Chinese launch vehicle powered by liquid oxygen and methane failed during its maiden flight on Wednesday after liftoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

Welcome to this week’s edition of S-SPACⁱ. We’ve got the latest news about Rocket Lab, Satellogic, Redwire, Terrran Orbital and the newest addition to the index, BigBear.ai.

Ready? Let’s get started.

This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: Tuesday, December 13. 7 PM PST (9 PM CST; 10 PM EST): We welcome back JOHN JOSSY for his review of 2022 and a look ahead to 2023. Wednesday, December 14. Hotel Mars pre-recorded. See the Upcoming Show Menu at www.thespaceshow.com for details. Wednesday, December 14. SPECIAL SHOW: 7 PM PST; 10 PM EST: We welcome back BRUCE PITTMAN re […]

NASA has approved spending $1.2 billion on the Near-Earth Object Surveyor (NEO Surveyor) space telescope whose mission is to protect Earth by detecting potentially dangerous asteroids and comets that could strike the planet.

In the first installment of this series, Elon Musk Drinks Your Milkshake: The Impact of SpaceX Rideshare Missions on the Small Launch Market, we looked at the impact of SpaceX’s five Transporter missions and other rideshare and secondary payload launches on the emerging small satellite launch industry.

While NASA’s Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego on Sunday after a 25-day mission to the moon, a number of payloads launched along with it are still operating in space. Let’s look at what has happened to the 10 6U CubeSats launched as secondary payloads on the Artemis I mission.

A record launch year shows no sign of slowing down with 14 launches scheduled worldwide in the last 20 days of 2022. There are seven launches scheduled by U.S. launch providers, five by Chinese companies, and a pair of European launches in the weeks ahead.

SpaceX launched a private mission to land on the moon for a Japanese company and a cluster of satellites for a rival to its Starlink broadband constellation in a week that also saw the successful debut of a new Chinese rocket.

NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System web-based visualization tool lets you “see” the SmallSat as it journeys to the Moon and seeks out water ice in the darkest craters there.

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — NASA’s Lunar Flashlight has communicated with mission controllers and confirmed it is healthy after launching Sunday, Dec. 11, at 2:38 a.m. EST (Saturday, Dec. 10, at 11:38 p.m. PST) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. About 53 minutes after launch, the small satellite, or SmallSat, was released from its dispenser to begin a four-month journey to the Moon to seek out surface water ice in permanently shadowed craters at the lunar South Pole.

TOKYO, December 11, 2022 (ispace PR) — ispace, a global lunar exploration company, released a status update on its HAKUTO-R Mission 1 lunar lander, following a successful launch by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., on December 11, 2022.

NASA Mission Update

NASA’s Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California, at 9:40 a.m. PST Sunday after a record-breaking mission, traveling more than 1.4 million miles on a path around the Moon and returning safely to Earth, completing the Artemis I flight test.