Tag: commercial-space
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Planet Labs takes rash of launch failures in stride
One of Planet Labs’ satellites captured this shot of a fire burning near Itumbiara, Brazil. Credit: Planet Labs No one had ever lost 26 satellites at once until a launch failure bit Planet Labs last year, temporarily setting back the San Francisco startup’s ambition to map the globe every day. Adding to the sting of…
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Bezos to locate commercial rocket base in Florida
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos reveals an artist’s concept of the company’s new orbital launcher to be manufactured and launched in Florida. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now Blue Origin, the burgeoning, often secretive space company led by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, revealed plans Tuesday to build and launch reusable rockets on Florida’s Space Coast, adding another…
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Bezos to locate commercial rocket base in Florida
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos reveals an artist’s concept of the company’s new orbital launcher to be manufactured and launched in Florida. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now Blue Origin, the burgeoning, often secretive space company led by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, revealed plans Tuesday to build and launch reusable rockets on Florida’s Space Coast, adding another…
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One-on-one with NASA’s chief space station builder
Mike Suffredini leaves NASA on Sept. 9 to take a job in the private sector. Credit: NASA Mike Suffredini is leaving NASA after 10 years at the helm of the International Space Station program, overseeing assembly of the largest spacecraft ever built and shepherding the program through numerous political and technical roadblocks. He took over…
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Space Florida to take over KSC’s shuttle runway
File photo of Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility runway. Credit: NASA/KSC NASA will hand over control of the Kennedy Space Center’s disused space shuttle landing strip to the state of Florida on June 22 in a major step toward repurposing the three-mile-long runway for future spacecraft, officials said Monday. The board of Space Florida,…
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ULA needs commercial customers to close Vulcan rocket business case
Artist’s concept of ULA’s Vulcan rocket. Credit: ULA United Launch Alliance will need to lure commercial customers to ensure the economic viability of its new Vulcan rocket, which is set to debut in 2019 just as the rate of U.S. military satellite launches is due to take a dip. The Vulcan rocket must fly at…
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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin dealt setback in patent dispute with SpaceX over rocket landings
The “autonomous spaceport drone ship” that SpaceX built to recover the Falcon 9 first stage. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has won a key preliminary ruling in its dispute with Blue Origin over a patent received by the Jeff Bezos-backed commercial space venture covering the landing of rockets at sea. Elon Musk announces the opening of SpaceX’s Seattle-area engineering office.…
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Former Atlas launch pad gets a new tenant
Artist’s concept of the Moon Express MX-1 spacecraft flying to the moon. Credit: Moon Express A decommissioned launch facility at Cape Canaveral where some of America’s first interplanetary missions left Earth will now be used as a test site for a commercial moon lander. Moon Express signed an agreement Thursday with Space Florida, a state…
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Ratchet wrench ’emailed’ to space station
Astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore shows off the 3D printed ratchet wrench on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA A future where mission control can digitally dispatch tools, spare parts and other vital materials to far-flung space crews took one giant leap toward reality when a 3D printer aboard the International Space Station produced a ratchet…
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3D printer activated aboard the International Space Station
A 3D printer testbed was installed on the International Space Station this week. Credit: Made in Space The dream of a self-sufficient space-faring civilization moved a step closer to reality this week as a commercial 3D printer was installed aboard the International Space Station for a tryout in orbit. Astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore unpacked the…