Days after the first successful launch of his privately built rocket, entrepreneur Takafumi Horie said Wednesday his aerospace startup Interstellar Technologies Inc. may soon catch up with industry leaders such as SpaceX in the commercial space rocket-launching business. Horie also said the company will be ...
Aluminum fraud caused satellite failures that cost $700 million, NASA says
Faulty materials supplied by a unit of Norsk Hydro ASA, one of the world's top aluminum producers, led to more than $700 million of losses in two failed NASA satellite launch missions, according to an investigation by the space agency. NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory mission ...
China using U.S.-made satellites for internal security, WSJ reports
A fleet of U.S.-made satellites helps China's government police its people and supports its military despite growing wariness in Washington over Beijing's power, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. While the United States will not let China buy U.S.-made satellites for national security reasons, it ...
Upgrades in space: Smartphone-like software starts to bring satellites greater capabilities
Once a traditional satellite is launched into space, its physical hardware and computer software stay mostly immutable for the rest of its existence as it orbits the Earth, even as the technology it serves on the ground continues to change. Just as some aerospace startups ...
'100 alarms a day': Europe's satellites flying blind as space junk threat spreads
Europe needs its own technology to guard against a growing threat to its satellites from space junk ranging from dead satellites to tiny particles, according to a top adviser to the European Space Agency (ESA). With the world increasingly reliant on orbital infrastructure to maintain ...
With first launch in space-based internet project, Airbus and OneWeb aim for new satellite era
A rocket carrying six satellites built by Airbus SE and partner OneWeb blasted off from French Guiana on Wednesday, the first step in a plan to give millions of people in remote and rural areas high-speed internet beamed down from space. A successful launch could ...
Some of the world's major palm oil users, including Nestle, Unilever, and Mondelez, are trying out new satellite technology to track deforestation, as pressure grows on them to source the ingredient responsibly. They say the monitoring systems allow them to target people felling trees in ...
China's space debris cleanup may be cover story for arms against U.S. satellites, Pentagon says
China is developing sophisticated space capabilities such as "satellite inspection and repair" and debris cleanup — "at least some of which could also function" as weapons against U.S. satellites, according to the Defense Intelligence Agency. The increase in what's essentially orbiting garbage that could damage ...
Japan successfully launched on Friday morning a low-cost Epsilon rocket carrying seven satellites built by 10 organizations, including a space venture aiming to create artificial shooting stars. The launch by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) of the Epsilon-4 rocket, from Uchinoura Space Center in ...
SpaceX launches biggest U.S. 'rideshare' mission, taking 64 satellites to space
Elon Musk's SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from California on Monday carrying 64 small satellites into low orbit around the Earth, which the company called the largest-ever "rideshare" mission by a U.S.-based rocket. The mission, dubbed SSO-A, also marked the third voyage to space ...
'On-orbit servicing' emerges as new space industry amid growing satellite clutter
Imagine an airport where thousands of planes, empty of fuel, are left abandoned on the tarmac. That is what has been happening for decades with satellites that circle the Earth. When satellites run out of fuel, they can no longer maintain their precise orbit, rendering ...
The sky is the canvas: Tokyo startup looks to launch world's first artificial meteor shower
It was literally an out-of-this-world idea that seemed unfeasible when it struck her nearly two decades ago: Made-to-order shooting stars. But Lena Okajima's audacious project to reproduce nature's fireworks for mass entertainment is getting ready for takeoff. "The concept dawned on me when I watched ...
