orbital

Starship, the world's most powerful rocket, flew further and faster than ever before during its third test launch Thursday, although it was eventually lost as it re-entered the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said. Lift-off from the company's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas came at 8:25 am local time (1325 GMT) and was carried live on a webcast watched by millions on social media platform X. The sleek mega rocket is vital to NASA's plans for landing astronauts on the Moon later this decade – and SpaceX CEO Elon…

Satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital is "looking at everything" regarding the company's future, CEO Marc Bell told CNBC, as it considers Lockheed Martin's acquisition offer."We found out about when the rest of the world found out about it," Bell said on CNBC's "Manifest Space" podcast.Lockheed's proposal submitted last week values Terran Orbital at nearly $600 million, or about a third of its equity valuation from when the company went public via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, two years ago. The defense…

Terran Orbital's banner above the New York Stock Exchange on March 28, 2022.Terran OrbitalLockheed Martin submitted a bid to acquire spacecraft manufacturer Terran Orbital, the defense giant revealed in a securities filing on Friday.The nonbinding proposal would see Lockheed acquire Terran Orbital's outstanding common stock at $1 a share in cash, as well as pay $70 million for Terran's outstanding warrants and assume the company's $313 million in outstanding debt.Together, the offer values Terran Orbital at just below…

Phil and Paul Hartnoll in 1990 and 2023Phil and Paul Hartnoll in 1990 and 2023. Later photograph: Pål Hansen. Styling: Andie Redman. Grooming: Annabelle Miller. Archive image: Sevenoaks Chronicle/BPM MediaOrbital are brothers Phil and Paul Hartnoll. Raised in Sevenoaks, Kent, they first worked together as bricklayers for their father’s business, but started recording music in 1987. Their first single, Chime, entered the Top 20 in 1990. With their crossover fusion of underground and stadium electronic music, Orbital went …

After 13 years of slow orbital decay, a legacy satellite will finally be put out of its misery by plunging through Earth’s atmosphere where it will burn up into tiny fragments.Astronomers Could Soon Get Warnings When SpaceX Satellites Threaten Their ViewThe second European Remote Sensing satellite, ERS-2, is scheduled for an atmospheric reentry in mid-February, ending a 16-year mission that revolutionized our understanding of climate change and how we observe Earth from space, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced…

The 11 crew members representing the Expedition 70 (red shirts) and Axiom Space 3 (dark blue suits) crews gather for a farewell ceremony calling down to mission controllers on Earth. Credit: NASA TVThe Expedition 70 and Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) crews called down to Mission Control on Friday for a farewell ceremony as the four private astronauts target their departure for Saturday morning. (Subsequently, the undocking has been delayed until Monday, February 5, due to weather conditions off the coast of Florida.) The orbital…

Advanced manufacturing startup Orbital Composites is teaming up with Virtus Solis Technologies to conduct a space-based solar power demonstration as soon as 2027. The two companies say the mission will be a precursor to an in-space “megawatt-class” solar power installation by 2030, which could mark “a new chapter in renewable energy.” Space-based solar power (SBSP) is not a new idea; the sun emits more energy than humans could possibly use at the point it reaches Earth, and much of this energy is reflected back into…

Power demand spikes in the early morning and later evening, when solar arrays can't help. But researchers in Scotland say orbital launch costs are getting so cheap that giant space-based reflectors could soon be a viable way to power these timeslots.You could possibly look at this as a different way to do space solar – but instead of putting giant photovoltaic arrays in the sky and trying to beam the power down to Earth, you're just hanging big mirror structures in orbit, and using them to send more solar energy down to…

A world record of 210 successful orbital launches was set in 2023, but Europe has slipped further behind the global leaders. The continent contributed just three of the year’s launches — its lowest total since 2004. It’s a figure that pales in comparison to several individual nations. The US alone had 109 successful orbital launches — the most a single country has ever completed. The previous record holder was the Soviet Union, which sent 108 rockets into orbit in 1982. Taking the silver medal…

Terran Orbital has updated its anticipated financial results for the year’s end after the company received a long-awaited payment from its largest customer, Rivada Space Networks. The news, announced today, confirms earlier reports from TechCrunch that Terran CEO Marc Bell was expecting at least some payment from Rivada before the close of the year. Rivada, a German subsidiary of U.S.-based Rivada Networks, has ambitious plans to build a megaconstellation in low Earth orbit. The company contracted Terran to build 300…