After 13 years of slow orbital decay, a legacy satellite will finally be put out of its misery by plunging through Earth’s atmosphere where it will burn up into tiny fragments.
Starlab Space’s forthcoming space station is so big and heavy that only the formidable SpaceX Starship megarocket can launch it into orbit, but the one-time delivery option comes with distinct benefits.
We knew 2024 was going to be a landmark year in spaceflight, and judging by the wide range of developments in just the first month, we’re in for an extraordinary ride throughout the rest of the year.
China is planning to send its next lander to the lunar surface, this time targeting an impact crater with a sun-lit rim that could hold precious resources for long-duration stays on the Moon.
Earth orbit is getting its own space doctor in the form of a small cyborg arm reaching out for the scalpel. A surgical robot is launching to the International Space Station (ISS) to test its ability to slice through human flesh in a microgravity environment.
Earth’s orbit will be monitored by a watchful set of robotic eyes, the first commercial constellation of satellites with the ability to keep track of objects in space to avoid collisions between spacecraft.
Being the space nerd that I am, I often imagine a museum filled with the most important objects ever sent to space. We couldn’t possibly build a place like this, but we can speculate as to which human artifacts deserve a place in our imaginary spaceflight museum.
You can’t fly an inflatable module to space without bursting a few on Earth. Sierra Space watched its giant, 20-foot tall space station module explode in dramatic fashion, but the company wasn’t too stressed about it. In fact, it marked a successful test on the road to building the first commercial space station in…
Zipping far above Earth, it’s not exactly easy for satellites to find a corner gas station when the fuel gauge gets low. To tackle this cosmic conundrum, a Space Force-funded initiative is working on an innovative solution to refuel distant satellites on-the-fly.
Shandong-based Orienspace pulled off its first-ever launch, breaking the record for the largest payload capacity on a commercial rocket for China’s growing space industry.