MENLO PARK, Calif. (Airbus Ventures PR) — Airbus Ventures proudly announces its latest investment in Zero Error Systems (ZES), a Singapore-based startup debuting “smart chip” technology powered to protect satellites from radiation damage. The S$2.5 million ($1.84 million) seed round will enable the company to scale its operations, and work with international customers to deploy its products into space, as well as explore new applications, including self-driving vehicles with high levels of autonomy.

“Pairing ZES proprietary technology with advanced consumer-grade electronics will enable highly intelligent and cost-effective technology that is built to resist radiation,” explained Dr. Shu Wei, ZES Founding Chief Technology Officer. “As we embark on this journey, ZES is privileged to have Airbus Ventures invest in us. This partnership will enable and expedite the proliferation of our products and technologies into the Airbus Ventures ecosystem and beyond.”

Video Caption: Listening to Richard Branson over the past 20 years, you’d be forgiven for assuming that space was by now being frequented by lots of tourists. However, despite the Virgin Galactic chief’s optimism, the space tourism industry has yet to take off. Up to now there have been only seven self-funded citizens in space. And with billionaires such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk in the space race, why […]

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA will announce an exciting new discovery about the Moon from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) at a media teleconference at 12 p.m. EDT Monday, Oct. 26. Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Oct. 22, 2020 (ABL Space Systems PR) — ABL Space Systems has completed integrated stage testing of the RS1 small satellite launch vehicle.  Testing was performed on the RS1 second stage with the in-house designed E2 liquid rocket engine at the Area 1-56 test site on Edwards Air Force Base. 

Critical aspects the campaign included handling of the propellant tanks, operating pressurant management systems, and refining the stage arming and engine startup sequences, all of which were accomplished successfully.  This test campaign builds on the successes of eighteen months of extensive component, engine and stage testing.

WASHINGTON (Senate Commerce Committee PR) – U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, today introduced the Space Preservation and Conjunction Emergency (SPACE) Act. The legislation would authorize the Department of Commerce (DOC) to provide space situational awareness (SSA) services to civil, commercial, and international space operators. 

HAROLDSWICK, Scotland (Shetland Space Centre PR) — Shetland Space Centre today welcomed the announcement from the UK Space Agency that Lockheed Martin is transferring its satellite launch operations to Unst, creating hundreds of jobs.

UKSA said that the move from Sutherland followed a thorough process of due diligence and the project would deliver long-term value and help establish a sustainable, commercial launch market as part of the UK’s spaceflight programme – LaunchUK.

• Lockheed Martin to develop UK launch operations from Shetland Space Centre on the island of Unst.
• Orbex and Highlands and Islands Enterprise continue to advance launch plans from Space Hub Sutherland.

SWINDON, UK (UK Space Agency PR) — Hundreds of space jobs will be created in Scotland following the approval of plans for Lockheed Martin to transfer its satellite launch operations to Shetland Space Centre by the UK government.

Shetland Space Centre anticipates that by 2024, the spaceport site could support a total of 605 jobs in Scotland including 140 locally and 210 across the wider Shetland region. A further 150 jobs will also be created through wider manufacturing and support services.

MOJAVE, Calif. (MASP PR) – Mojave Air & Space Port’s CEO and General Manager Karina Drees has announced her departure in early 2021. The Board of Directors has begun the search for the air & space port’s next CEO.  Drees intends to serve out the remaining months of her five-year contract and has committed to remaining in the position until the next CEO is chosen. Board Secretary Jim Balentine, MASP’s […]

SpaceX has received a Basic International Telecommunications Services (BITS) license from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to offer its Starlink satellite broadband service north of the border.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Doug Lamborn PR) – Today, Representatives Doug Lamborn (CO-05), Kendra Horn (OK-05), Brian Babin (TX-36), Jason Crow (CO-06), Michael Waltz (FL-06), and Charlie Crist (FL-13) announced the creation of the House Space Force Caucus.

The co-chairs of the caucus also invited their House colleagues to join and support the sixth branch of the U.S. military. The Caucus  will serve as an organization dedicated to educating Members and their staff about the U.S. Space Force as well as advocating on the Hill on behalf of our nation’s youngest military Service.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Intel PR) — As ubiquitous as artificial intelligence has become in modern life — from boosting our understanding of the cosmos to surfacing entertaining videos on your phone — AI hasn’t yet found its way into orbit.

That is until Sept. 2, when an experimental satellite about the size of a cereal box was ejected from a rocket’s dispenser along with 45 other similarly small satellites. The satellite, named PhiSat-1, is now soaring at over 17,000 mph (27,500 kmh) in sun-synchronous orbit about 329 miles (530 km) overhead.

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos landed on Earth at 10:54 p.m. EDT in Kazakhstan. The trio departed the International Space Station in their Soyuz MS-16 spacecraft at 7:32 p.m. After post-landing medical checks, the crew will split up to return home; Cassidy will board a NASA plane back to Houston, and Vagner and Ivanishin will fly home to Star […]