space Archives

Final Flight of NASA’s Remarkable Mars Helicopter Ends with Rotor Damage

NASA's twin-rotor Ingenuity helicopter was designed for five missions over Mars. It lasted for 72 before a frayed rotor blade grounded the machine. Credit NASA

Rotor damage suffered during a routine Jan. 18 flight grounded the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars, after three years exceeding expectations and setting milestones for powered flight on another planet alongside the Perseverance rover, ending the aircraft’s remarkable mission, NASA announced Thursday.

Second Starship Test Flies Higher Before Failure

With 33 Raptor engines belching flame, SpaceX’s Starship demonstrated the full power of its main booster, reaching an altitude of 91 miles before the second uncrewed attempt to launch the massive rocket from Boca Chica, Texas, ended when the second stage apparently failed.

Pentagon Nominates Domain Awareness Expert to Lead Space Force

One of the U.S. military’s top experts in space domain awareness has been nominated to become the Pentagon’s second Chief of Space Operations. Lt. Gen. Chance “Salty” Saltzman was nominated Thursday to take the space service’s top job. If his promotion is confirmed by the Senate, Saltzman will have rocketed in three years from wearing a single star to pinning four to his uniform.

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…

U.S. Joins Allies in Space Operations ‘Vision’

By Tom Roeder troeder@spacefoundation.org A shared space operations vision accord now binds the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia and New Zealand, the Pentagon announced Tuesday. The Combined Space Operations Vision 2031 accord commits the seven nations to a code of conduct in space, including a mission to “generate and improve cooperation, coordination,…

State of Space 2022: Industry Enters ‘Era of Access and Opportunity’

By Tom Roeder troeder@spacefoundation.org The space industry has entered what Space Foundation CEO retired Navy Rear Adm. Tom Zelibor dubbed “the era of access and opportunity,” during an annual “State of Space” presentation this month on the foundation’s Symposium 365 online platform. Zelibor was joined by several industry leaders during the presentation, highlighting how satellites…

Japanese Billionaire Caps Record Space Tourism Year

By Tom Roeder troeder@SpaceFoundation.org The first self-funded space tourist to reach the International Space Station in more than a decade reached his destination aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule Wednesday. Japanese fashion mogul Yusaku Maezawa paid $88 million for the ride, the BBC reported, and was accompanied on the trip by documentary filmmaker Yozo Hirano. Their…

Global Space Economy Grows in 2019 to $423.8 Billion, The Space Report 2020 Q2 Analysis Shows

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (July 28, 2020) — The global space economy in 2019 grew more than $9 billion over the previous year, reaching $423.8 billion, according to new findings published by Space Foundation’s 2020 second quarter issue of The Space Report. The growth represents a 2.2% increase from the 2018 global space economy, which was…

2019 Space Employment Hit 8-Year High, Launch Activity Reached Decade Growth of 39%, Research from The Space Report 2020 Q1 Analysis Shows

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (March 31, 2020) — Across multiple fronts, the space industry heading into 2020 was the strongest in years, with gains in space industry jobs, new nations entering space, and record-level research and investor activity through International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory programs. Those are among the new findings in The Space Report…

Industry Insight: Space Jobs of the Future

Courtney Stadd spent more than 35 years helping draft and implement federal policies and regulations to spur the growth of commercial space. Today, he is widely consulted within the industry. The article below was originally published in The Space Report Quarter Three in October. The views presented herein are those of the individual author and do…