Tag: commercial-space
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SNC says its Dream Chaser prototype space glider is ready for flight tests
Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Dream Chaser flight test vehicle is ready to go at the company’s Colorado spacecraft assembly facility. (Credit: Sierra Nevada Corp.) Sierra Nevada Corp. says its full-scale Dream Chaser test vehicle is at last ready to be sent to a NASA center in California, for a fresh round of checkouts that will culminate…
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Jeff Bezos touts results from Blue Origin spaceship’s test, even with one less chute
A photo taken after last month’s flight test of Blue Origin’s New Shepard spaceship highlights the ring of crushable bumpers on the underside of the crew capsule. (Credit: Blue Origin via Jeff Bezos) Last month’s test flight of a Blue Origin rocket ship to space and back was aimed at seeing how safely it could land…
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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin venture gets set to pick up the pace for spaceship test flights
Blue Origin’s New Shepard spaceship rises from its launch pad in June. (Credit: Blue Origin) Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, plans to accelerate its current once-every-eight-weeks schedule for flight tests of its New Shepard suborbital spaceship, leading up to the first crewed flights next year, one of the company’s…
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Sierra Nevada Corp. is working with U.N. on global space program for Dream Chaser
An artist’s conception shows Sierra Nevada Corp.’s uncrewed version of the Dream Chaser space glider in orbit with a cargo module attached at the back. (Credit: Sierra Nevada Corporation) Sierra Nevada Corp. says it’s working with the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs on an arrangement that would give countries around the world the opportunity…
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Jeff Bezos provides a sneak peek at Blue Origin’s orbital rocket factory in Florida
An artist’s rendering shows Blue Origin’s orbital vehicle production facility, which is under construction in Florida. (Credit: Blue Origin) Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos today put a spotlight on the construction of a giant rocket production facility in Florida for his Blue Origin space venture – but he also gave a shout-out to the engine production team back in…
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Former NASA space station manager makes plans for commercial outpost
An artist’s conception shows the potential configuration for a commercial space station. (Credit: Axiom Space via YouTube) Former space station manager Mike Suffredini says he’s working on a plan to send up a commercial space module that could be attached to the International Space Station – and then disattached to become the foundation for a private-sector outpost…
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Amazon’s Jeff Bezos wins Heinlein Prize for space commercialization at Blue Origin
Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos is the founder of Blue Origin. (Credit: Blue Origin) Amazon’s billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos, has won the prestigious Heinlein Prize for his efforts to advance space commercialization at another company he founded, Blue Origin. Bezos follows in the footsteps of SpaceX founder Elon Musk and Peter Diamandis, who played a lead…
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Spaceflight raises $18 million and acquires OpenWhere to build satellite data portal
One of BlackSky’s Pathfinder satellites undergoes final integration. (Credit: BlackSky) Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries is moving ahead on two fronts to build an online portal for satellite imagery: It has secured $18 million in new venture capital, and is acquiring a Virginia-based company called OpenWhere to create the software platform for distributing the images. “It’s all about…
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Planetary Resources’ asteroid miners go international, starting with Luxembourg
An artist’s view shows one of Planetary Resources’ telescopes in orbit. (Credit: Planetary Resources) Planetary Resources says it will start ramping up an international asteroid-mining subsidiary in Luxembourg by the end of the year – and will think about expanding operations to other locales as well. The Luxembourg deal was announced last week, but many of the details are still…
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NewSpace 2016 makes Seattle the space industry’s center of the universe this week
“The sky’s the limit” for space ventures, according to the head of Washington state’s Office of Aerospace. This composite photo sets Seattle’s Space Needle against a field of stars. For more of photographer Mikul Eriksson’s work, visit MikulEriksson.com or click on the image. There’s a neighborhood in Seattle that jokingly calls itself “the center of…