Satellites
Apex’s off-the-shelf satellite bus business attracts $95M in new funding
Fresh off the success of its first mission, satellite manufacturer Apex has closed $95 million in new capital to scale its operations. The Los Angeles-based startup successfully launched and commissioned…
Hubble Network makes Bluetooth connection with a satellite for the first time
Hubble Network has become the first company in history to establish a Bluetooth connection directly to a satellite — a critical technology validation for the company, potentially opening the door…
Orbit Fab wants to build “gas stations” for satellites — which means it needs the gas cap, a mechanism for transferring propellant from an orbital tanker to the customer spacecraft.…
Orbio Earth finds methane leaks that could cost oil companies billions this year
Investors bet the startup’s algorithms, which feed on satellite data, will fill a significant gap in the methane market.
Satellite servicing tech startup, led by former head of Ukraine’s space agency, lands $4M
Kurs Orbital, a startup founded by Ukrainian space industry veterans, has closed a new tranche of funding to accelerate the commercialization of its satellite servicing technology. The two-year-old company aims…
SpaceX will de-orbit 100 Starlink satellites with unidentified flaw
SpaceX announced today that it will be sending some 100 Starlink satellites to an early retirement after a flaw was identified that could make them a worry later on. Don’t…
Tomorrow.io’s radar satellites use machine learning to punch well above their weight
Those of us lucky enough to be sitting by a window can predict the weather just by looking outside, but for the less privileged, weather forecasting and analysis is getting…
Albedo closes $35M at boosted valuation to build satellites that orbit very, very close to Earth
Satellite startup Albedo aims to provide commercial orbital imagery so detailed that the military kept its own version under wraps — until it was leaked a few years ago by…
Rocket Lab leverages vertical integration to land $515M military satellite contract
The Space Development Agency is the mystery customer behind Rocket Lab’s up-to $515 million, 18-satellite order announced in late December, the two firms announced today. In a regulatory filing from…
Open Cosmos, a UK satellite startup focused on sustainability, raises $50M
Satellites have come into focus as a critical way — and sometimes the only way — to deliver communications and receive data about certain locations around the world, a power…
French startup Exotrail expands US footprint with two new subsidiaries
French in-space transportation company Exotrail is launching two U.S.-based subsidiaries, one focused specifically on serving U.S. government and defense customers, the company said Monday. Tyler Browder, co-founder and former head…
Amazon is building a $120M facility in Florida for Project Kuiper satellite processing
Amazon will spend $120 million on a new satellite processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), as the company gears up to launch the first batch of Project Kuiper…
Astranis moves to Plan B after first commercial internet satellite malfunctions on orbit
Space-based internet startup Astranis said Friday that its first commercial internet satellite will be unable to provide continuous coverage to Alaska due to a malfunction with both spacecraft’s solar panels.…
Astranis will launch a dedicated internet satellite for the Philippines next year
Space-based internet startup Astranis inked a new deal to launch and operate a dedicated satellite for the Philippines, which will provide enough bandwidth to connect up to 2 million people.…
Starlink satellites are dodging objects in orbit thousands of times every month
Starlink satellites are making thousands of avoidance maneuvers as low Earth orbit becomes more crowded, feeding worries that a catastrophic impact is inevitable. SpaceX’s orbital communication satellites performed maneuvers just…
Orbit Fab closes $28.5M Series A for on-orbit refueling capabilities
Orbit Fab, a company that wants to build a network of refueling stations in orbit, closed a $28.5 million Series A to launch more fuel delivery and infrastructure missions. The…
Satellite startup Constellr wins backing to build out its water-monitoring platform
We are living in the era of so-called microsatellites, which are equipped with thermal cameras and other regalia to, for instance, alert farmers before crops are damaged, predict droughts and…
Solestial promises solar panels in space for a tenth of the cost and lines up $10M seed
The coming wave of satellite constellations all need power, but solar panels built for space are extremely expensive and difficult to manufacture. Solestial is ready to change that with space-grade…
Space-based advertising has been on the minds of every marketer on the planet since the Apollo era, yet no one has made it happen. A new study suggests that a…
Lynk may beat Starlink and Apple to the punch as FCC approves its space-based texting
SpaceX and T-Mobile may have hogged the headlines with their flashy pre-announcement about Starlink connectivity last month, and Apple last week, but Lynk has been putting in the work and…
Morpheus Space’s satellite thrusters are propelled forward with a $28M Series A
The booming satellite industry has been a boon for Morpheus Space, which produces a modular, electric propulsion system for small satellites. Morpheus has raised a $28 million Series A, with…
Muon Space plans a ‘turnkey solution’ for custom Earth observation satellites
Plenty of companies want to operate in space, but few have or need the expertise to do so. They want an eye in the sky but not a satellite company.…
The first flight of India’s small satellite vehicle results in loss of payload
The maiden flight of India’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) ended in failure when the rocket failed to insert its payloads into the target orbit. India Space Research Organization (ISRO),…
A USB standard for satellites? Slingshot 1 takes to orbit to test one
Testing new satellites and space-based technologies has never been easy exactly, but it definitely could be easier. Slingshot 1, a 12U CubeSat mission just launched via Virgin Orbit, is an…
Watch Virgin Orbit’s ‘Straight Up’ launch of Space Force satellites live tonight
Update: The launch was delayed due to a slight problem with propellant temperature, but Virgin Orbit has confirmed it will make its next attempt tonight (July 1st) no earlier than…
Astrix Astronautics’ Fia Jones on wooing Peter Beck to launch her startup
Astrix has figured out how to use inflation to deploy a very large surface area from a compact volume, which allows for ease of access to power in isolated spaces.
UK taps Virgin Orbit to launch first satellites from its own soil this summer
The United Kingdom has a small but growing space industry, with the number of space-related organizations increasing by an average of 21% each year since 2012, but there is one…
GPS signals could detect tsunamis better and faster than seismic sensors
GPS networks are already a crucial part of everyday life around the world, but an international team of scientists has found a new, potentially life-saving use for them: tsunami warnings.…
Vyoma is the latest player seeking to prevent satellite collisions with space junk
As you might’ve heard, it’s getting a little crowded in space, between thousand-satellite constellations à la SpaceX’s Starlink and the millions of pieces of space junk accumulated from decades of…
OneWeb founder Greg Wyler’s new startup wants to launch a ‘sustainable’ satellite mega-constellation
The proliferation of space junk in low Earth orbit is a problem that isn’t going away. Instead, it’s getting worse — a fact that grabbed headlines last November when a…
