Launch Records Topple in 2024 with Busiest January of Space Age

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 starlink satellites launches from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, Jan. 7, 2024.

Averaging a liftoff every 33 hours and 49 minutes, January’s 22 successful launches to space marked the busiest start to a year since the Space Age dawned in 1957, and put the globe on track for 259 launches in 2024, which would easily eclipse records set in 2023, according to a Space Foundation database.

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U.S. Defense Strategy Document Pledges Commercial Space Protection

In a first-of-its-kind shift in stated strategy, the Biden Administration pledged, in a document that outlines Pentagon plans, to protect growing American commercial interests in space while advancing military space capabilities and international cooperation in orbit. Military space has returned to the spotlight in recent years after a slump that accompanied the end of the Cold War.

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Solving Space Junk Problem Could Net Federal Prize

Polar objects in orbit

A grand prize could be in the offing for inventors who come up with new methods to prevent orbiting debris or design tools that can clean up space junk, according to recommendations from the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy.

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Quilty Analytics: Space Market Transactions Cool During 2022’s 1st Quarter

After a torrent of transaction activity during 2021, the first quarter of 2022 saw a downshift in announced deal volumes. In Q1 22, there were six space-related acquisitions and buyouts, 41 private equity and venture equity financings totaling approximately $1.5 billion in funds raised, and three public equity financings, inclusive of two pending de-SPACs, totaling…

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