NASA Mission Update

During Artemis I, NASA plans to accomplish several primary objectives, including demonstrating the performance of the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield from lunar return velocities, demonstrating operations and facilities during all mission phases from launch countdown through recovery, and retrieving the crew module for post-flight analysis. As the first integrated flight of the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, and the exploration ground systems at NASA’s 21^st century spaceport in Florida, engineers hope to accomplish a host of additional test objectives to better understand how the spacecraft performs in space and prepare for future missions with crew.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

During the first seven months of the year, five new satellite launch vehicles from Europe, China, Russia and South Korea flew successfully for the first time. As impressive as that is, it was a mere opening act to a busy period that could see at least 20 additional launchers debut around the world.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Ambitious launch schedules typically go awry when a rocket suffers a catastrophic failure that takes months to investigate and implement modifications to ensure the same accident doesn’t happen again. In the majority of cases, the failures involve a machine launching a machine. All that can be replaced, albeit at substantial cost.

Russia’s ambitious launch plans for 2022 fell apart due to a far more momentous and deadly action: the nation’s invasion of Ukraine. The decision ruptured cooperation with the West on virtually every space project on which it was safe to do so. The main exception was the International Space Station (ISS), a program involving astronauts and cosmonauts that would be difficult to operate safely if Russia suddenly withdrew (as it indeed threatened to do).

Due to the invasion, Western partners canceled seven launches of foreign payloads in less than a month. The cancellations put Russia even further behind the United States and China in launch totals this year.

Astra Space and Virgin Orbit both saw their shares decline sharply on Thursday after announcing that their next launches would be delayed into 2023 and reporting large quarterly losses. Astra Space announced that it is abandoning its Rocket 3.3 small-satellite booster, which failed on two of its three most recent flights. It will move to a larger Rocket 4 capable of carrying more payloads. The company reported a $53 million […]

ALAMEDA, Calif., August 02, 2022 (Astra Space PR) — Astra Space, Inc. (“Astra”) (NASDAQ: ASTR) today announced that it has entered into a common stock purchase agreement with B. Riley Principal Capital II, LLC (“B. Riley Principal Capital II”).

The agreement governs a Committed Equity Facility that provides Astra the right, in its discretion and without obligation, to sell and issue up to $100 million of its Class A common stock over the course of 24 months to B. Riley Principal Capital II, subject to certain limitations and conditions, including that in no event will the number of shares of Class A common stock sold exceed 19.99% of its outstanding Class A and Class B common stock.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched South Korea’s first mission to the moon on Thursday evening from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), a.k.a., Danuri, is equipped with five instruments from South Korea and a camera from the United States that are designed to search for water ice, aluminum, helium-3, silicon and uranium on the lunar surface. The spacecraft will produce a topographical map […]

ALAMEDA, Calif., August 04, 2022 (Astra Space PR) — Astra Space, Inc. (“Astra”) (Nasdaq: ASTR) today announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2022.

Astra announces that after two of its four Rocket 3.3 flights were successful, the Company will transition to the next version of its launch system and is working with customers to re-manifest all payloads onto the new launch system, designed for higher capacity, reliability, and production rate.

Aviation veteran to lead the expansion of Technical Operations capabilities in preparation for high frequency flights in commercial service

TUSTIN, Calif., August 3, 2022 (Virgin Galactic PR) – Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (the “Company” or “Virgin Galactic”), a vertically integrated aerospace and space travel company, announced today that former Delta Air Lines executive Mike Moore has been appointed Executive Vice President, Spaceline Technical Operations, effective August 22.

Moore will lead Virgin Galactic’s technical operations and maintenance team in charge of ensuring the Company’s vehicles are ready for flight. As part of this new position, he will help design and implement the operational model and technical infrastructure needed to support high cadence spaceflights during commercial service. Moore will report to CEO Michael Colglazier.

WESTMINSTER, Colo. (Maxar Technologies PR) — Maxar Technologies (NYSE:MAXR) (TSX:MAXR), provider of comprehensive space solutions and secure, precise, geospatial intelligence, announced it received a Phase A study contract from NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) Spacecraft mission. During the ten-month contract, Maxar will develop the spacecraft concept, mature necessary technologies, conduct analysis on robotic servicing and payload accommodations, help define the potential performance, risks, costs and development schedule for a three-satellite, next-generation constellation of weather monitoring satellites.

By David Bullock
Staff Writer

While other asteroid mining companies such as Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries have gone bust,, AstroForge CEO Matt Gialich thinks his company is ready to succeed where they failed because of his management style and changes in technology.

“We are a company that, at this stage, is focused on ownership,” Gialich said. “What I mean by that is each individual contributor that we bring in is responsible for some component that they work on, be it refinery-tech or a space vehicle, and they own that from start to finish. Our management style is very much that you’re brought in for your aptitude and your skill set, and you know what to do. We are all engineers here. We allow people to perform with the best of their needs and that they know what they’re doing.”

 “We are 100% focused on mining asteroids and that’s it,” he added. 

Advancement of Strategic Initiatives Positions the Company for Scaled Growth

• Selected Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing Subsidiary, to Build Two New Motherships; First Next-Generation Mothership Planned to Enter Service in 2025
• Delta Class Spaceship Manufacturing Facility in Phoenix Area, Expected to be Fully Operational in Late 2023
• Commercial Launch Anticipated for Q2 2023

TUSTIN, Calif., August 04, 2022 (Virgin Galactic PR) –Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SPCE) (“Virgin Galactic” or the “Company”) today announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022 and provided a business update.

Michael Colglazier, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Galactic said “As we prepare to return to the skies, we have put in place many powerful initiatives to drive our long-term success. Our agreement with Aurora to develop new motherships, selection of Phoenix as the location for our new Spaceship factory in Phoenix, and acquisition of an incredible land parcel in New Mexico for our Future Astronaut Campus are cornerstone elements of how we will build and operate our global Spaceline. While our short-term plans now call for commercial service to launch in the second quarter of 2023, progress on our future fleet continues and many of the key elements of our roadmap are now in place to scale the business in a meaningful way.”

CubeSat Factory can produce 85 CubeSats a year

BOULDER, Colo., Aug. 4, 2022 (Blue Canyon Technologies PR) – Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies LLC (“BCT” or “Blue Canyon”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, celebrated the grand opening of its new CubeSat Factory in Boulder, Colorado, with members of the Boulder Chamber of Commerce at a ribbon-cutting ceremony.