Category Archives: Space Today

Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. is joining Starlab Space, the joint venture of Voyager Space and Airbus Defence and Space that is developing a commercial space station. Starlab Space announced recently that Mitsubishi has become a strategic partner of Starlab Space and would take an equity stake in the joint venture. A Starlab spokesperson declined to provideRead More

SpaceX could attempt to land a Starship booster as soon as the vehicle’s fifth flight as Elon Musk outlined plans to increase both the flight rate and the performance of the launch vehicle. SpaceX posted on social media April 6 the video of an undated, but apparently recent, presentation the company’s founder and chief executiveRead More

Rocket Lab says it could launch its first Neutron rocket before the end of the year as it outlines a long-term vision for the company that involves its own satellite constellation. In a February earnings call to discuss the company’s fourth quarter and 2023 financial results, Rocket Lab executives said development of its Neutron medium-liftRead More

The Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA) team has conducted a preliminary design review for the mission and discussed its latest developments. This is a major milestone for the mission’s production phase as it ensures the mission’s safety and success. Salem Butti Al Qubaisi, Director-General of UAE Space Agency, said: “Today, the UAE playsRead More

Viasat expects to start providing Wi-Fi to planes by the end of June from ViaSat-3 F1, the satellite that lost more than 90% of its 1 terabit per second capacity after an antenna deployment failure last year. The geostationary satellite is otherwise performing well and should be operating commercially at some point in the secondRead More

Japan has awarded Tokyo-based small satellite thruster developer Pale Blue a grant worth up to $27 million to upgrade its water-based propulsion technology for larger spacecraft. The four-year-old startup tested its Resistojet thruster in orbit for the first time in March, successfully using jets of steam to move a tiny 6U cubesat called Star Sphere.Read More

United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur soared into night skies on its long-awaited first launch in January, carrying a commercial lunar lander. Peregrine is a lunar lander developed by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic. The Centaur placed Peregrine on a highly elliptical orbit that will take it to the moon, where it will go into orbit in advance ofRead More

The United Arab Emirates has agreed to develop an airlock module for the lunar Gateway, helping complete the design of the lunar space station while enhancing the UAE’s role in the Artemis lunar exploration effort. NASA and the UAE’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) announced recently that the UAE would contribute the Crew andRead More

The first flight of the Polaris program of private astronaut missions is now scheduled for no earlier than next April, a delay of nearly a year and a half from its original plan. In social media posts, Jared Isaacman, the billionaire backing the Polaris program and who is commanding the initial mission, said the launchRead More

In partnership with Bayanat, the UAE Space Agency has launched the operational phase of Geo-Spatial Analytics Platform. It was launched on the sidelines of its initiatives in organizing the Space Pavilion’s first participation at COP28. The platform will include three key services: facilitation an access to satellite imagery from international space agencies and a numberRead More