The Jeff Bezos-backed New Glenn reusable rocket made a successful debut flight (NG-1) just after 07.00 GMT from Launch Pad 36 at Cape Canaveral in Florida on January 16th. The launch schedule suffered a couple of pauses including a 20 minute ‘hold’, and then a further 30-minute delay when a boat entered the splash-down zone. […]
Longshot Space Technology is challenging the established ‘rockets-into-space’ status quo with a planned 500-metre-long pneumatic cannon designed to launch payloads into orbit and with no rockets required. CEO Mike Grace is betting on a physics-proven, cost-efficient approach to disrupt the $580 million+ space tech market. He commented: “It’s a million times easier to make a […]
The European Space Agency (ESA) has for a couple of years been talking about alternative launch contractors. It has now fleshed out its plans. It is commissioning a study to detail the potential development of a reusable rocket capable of delivering 60 tonnes to low Earth orbit. A tender document for open competition published on […]
One of Japan public broadcaster NHK’s regional stations, NHK Obihiro, is cooperating with Taiwanese public broadcaster PTS on a documentary following the launch of the first Taiwanese rocket which will take off from Hokkaido in Japan. The rocket launch by Taiwan Innovative Space (TiSpace) is scheduled for spring 2025. It will be the first-ever Taiwanese […]
History was made the moment the SpaceX ‘mechazilla’ mechanical arms grabbed the returning Super Heavy Starship booster. Even Elon Musk hadn’t wholly expected this level of success for his rocket programme. The Starship’s upper stage continued on its orbital flight to a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean and sufficiently on target for the landing […]
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to lay the foundation stone for construction of the new facility on February 28th which will come up in an area of 2,233 acres in Padukkapathu, near Chennai in Tamul Nadu. India’s government has completed land acquisition for the ambitious project which will be built at a cost of […]
Europe already has one rival to its giant Ariane rocket in the form of the Vega mid-sized launcher. However, Vega is itself subject to delays caused by a failure at the end of 2022 and in any case is only good for lower weight or orbital tasks. Stephane Israel, chief executive of Arianespace, questioned the […]
Elon Musk addressed an ‘all hands’ staff Town Hall meeting at the SpaceX Starship site in south Texas on January 12th. He said that the “three Rs: Reliability, Reusable Rockets” were key to SpaceX’s success. Other news also emerged. Some mundane, others perhaps more important. The mundane was that there will be new restaurant, café […]
A complaint has been filed at the Los Angeles Superior Court by Craig Stoker, who was previously Blue Origin’s programme manager on their BE-4 rocket engine development, and alleging concerns over workplace safety at the Jeff Bezos-backed business. Stoker further alleges that Blue Origin had a “hostile work environment” and that there were “ethical violations” […]
Sir Richard Branson says he is not putting any more cash into the Virgin Galactic rocket space tourism venture. He told the FT that his business empire “does not have the deepest pockets” any more and that he had learned an expensive lesson with its Virgin Orbit business which went bust earlier in 2023. Virgin […]