There are more than 8,000 active satellites in orbit. By 2030, there will be more than 25,000. A single geomagnetic storm, the kind the sun produces several hundred times during a solar maximum, could cost the satellite industry $40 billion. In February 2022, a moderate storm knocked 40 freshly launched Starlink satellites out of orbit, […]
At 2:59 a.m. Eastern Time on 3 May, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base carrying 45 satellites, three of which belonged to Planet Labs. Pelicans 7, 8, and 9 are the latest additions to Planet’s next-generation constellation of high-resolution Earth observation satellites, bringing the Pelican fleet to nine spacecraft. Each […]
SpaceX has spent more than $15 billion developing its Starship megarocket and is pushing for a launch cadence that would make space access resemble an airline schedule rather than a government programme, Reuters reported on Friday, drawing on the company’s confidential pre-IPO prospectus. The figure quantifies, for the first time, the cumulative cost of the […]
Founded in 2022 and formerly called Constellation Technologies & Operations, Univity is targeting a constellation of at least 1,600 satellites in very low Earth orbit, using telecom operators’ own 5G mmWave spectrum rather than competing with them. The Series A takes total financing to €68M across equity, debt, subsidies and contract revenues. Univity, the Paris-based […]
Summary: SpaceX’s confidential S-1 pre-IPO filing warns that its orbital AI data centre plans “involve significant technical complexity and unproven technologies, and may not achieve commercial viability,” contradicting Elon Musk’s January claim at Davos that space-based AI was a “no-brainer” achievable within two to three years. The filing comes as SpaceX targets a $1.75 trillion […]
A year after flying and recovering the continent’s first private re-entry capsule, the German-French startup is moving from demonstration to operations. Three PHOENIX 2 vehicles, a new defence entity, and a next-generation 1-tonne capsule are all funded by the round. ATMOS Space Cargo, the European company developing orbital transport and re-entry vehicles, has closed a […]
Astroport Space Technologies and Vermeer Corporation have announced a collaboration to adapt industrial surface mining equipment for autonomous lunar construction, a partnership that both companies frame as delivering the heavy machinery, or “Lunar Iron,” needed to build a permanent human presence on the Moon. The announcement, made at the 20th International Conference on Engineering, Science, […]
The venture debt facility, backed by InvestEU and signed on 7 April, takes PLD Space’s total 2026 fundraising to €210 million following its €180 million Series C in March. MIURA 5 is on track for its inaugural test flight later this year from the Guiana Space Centre. The European Investment Bank has signed a €30 […]
