Author: starpathwp-production
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When a Satellite Fails, Will Insurers Pay the Claim or Fund a Repair Mission?
In 1984, two communications satellites, Westar 6 and Palapa B2, were placed into incorrect orbits due to an upper-stage malfunction. Their insurers were already facing a massive loss, but instead of simply paying out the claims, they signed an agreement with NASA to have the Space Shuttle retrieve the two satellites from space and return…
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NASA Awards Blue Origin $700 Million Contract to Build First Commercial Mars Telecommunications Network
NASA has selected Blue Origin to develop and operate a next-generation Mars communications infrastructure under a contract worth up to $700 million, marking one of the agency’s most significant steps toward commercializing deep-space communications services beyond Earth orbit. The firm-fixed-price contract, announced Sept. 1, calls for Blue Origin to design, build, integrate, launch, and operate…
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Fermi Explorer Seeks to Launch an Interstellar Probe Toward Alpha Centauri in 2029 on a $15 Million Budget
A Private-Sector Bid to Begin Humanity’s First Interstellar Journey A newly announced private initiative called Fermi Explorer aims to launch a small spacecraft toward the Alpha Centauri star system as early as 2029, pursuing what its organizers describe as a practical and affordable first step into interstellar exploration. Unlike high-profile concepts that rely on breakthrough…
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Hainan Could Become the Hub of China’s Commercial Space Future
The global launch industry is entering a new phase, one defined less by whether rockets can reach orbit and more by how quickly launch capacity can scale. Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim recently pointed to a widening imbalance between the number of satellites waiting to fly and the amount of launch capacity available to carry…
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Chang Guang Satellite Unveils Results from World’s Largest Stereo Mapping Satellite Cluster
Commercial space is entering a new phase of large-scale development, with the number of satellites in orbit continuing to rise and applications expanding into an increasingly diverse range of industries. Ultimately, however, the value of the industry is realized through data applications and services. Among these applications, 3D stereo mapping has become an important field…
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What Does “Y” Mean in Chinese Rocket Designations?
Whenever China launches a rocket, its name often includes the Chinese character “遥” (Yao, Y). Examples include the Long March 2F Y23, Long March 5 Y6, and Zhuque-3 Y2 launch vehicles. So what exactly does “Y” mean, and where did this naming convention come from? “Y” is short for “Yaoce” (遥测, telemetry), and its origins…
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China’s Satellite Market: Where the Value Flows — Market Share, Core Advantages and Moats
According to publicly available information, six of the eight winning bidders for ground terminal contracts under the Spacesail constellation have adopted chip solutions from Zhirong Technology. Among the potential suppliers for the GW constellation (Guowang), several have likewise chosen Zhirong Technology’s Ka-band solutions. Zhirong’s positioning differs from that of Chengchang Technology. Chengchang has staked its…
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Commercial Space: China’s Domestic Chips Are Winning This Space Race
Ground-based AI chips are a game built around Nvidia’s CUDA ecosystem, and any challenger must contend with developer ecosystems, compute benchmarks and framework compatibility. But in space, an opportunity has emerged to reshuffle the AI compute chip landscape — the competitive dynamics of space-based computing differ from those on the ground, and Nvidia holds no…
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Commercial Space: Where the Hidden Champions Are
What truly determines whether the commercial space industry can operate at scale is often found in the parts of the value chain that remain out of sight. Few people pay much attention to the telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C), thermal management, refurbishment and inspection, and ground support work that takes place before launch, after launch,…
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Pallas-1 Y1: Another New Rocket from a Chinese Private Launch Company Reaches Orbit
At 10:00 a.m. on September 1, 2026, Pallas-1 Y1, a medium-to-large reusable liquid-propellant launch vehicle developed by Galactic Energy, lifted off from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Zone. The rocket successfully entered its designated orbit as planned, performed normally throughout the flight, and achieved all test objectives, marking the successful completion of the mission.…