Space Ecosystem | Startups | Deals
SpaceX raised $1.022 billion in total, selling all but $18.8 million of available shares. Musk says Starlink has sufficient capital to get to an operational level. [Forward]
Virgin Orbit attempted to launch a test satellite into space aboard a rocket carried by a modified Boeing 747 dubbed Cosmic Girl. There’s no immediate word on what went wrong. [Forward]
OneWeb intends to use bankruptcy proceedings to pursue selling its business in order to maximize its value. FCC approval to launch more satellites could improve the value of OneWeb's assets. [Forward]
EOS acquired the Silicon Valley startup and announced plans to spend $800 million to create the EOSLink satellite communications constellation. They hope to award build and launch contracts early 2021. [Forward]
Space Exploration
After a successful launch into orbit, SpaceX’s Dragon Endeavour spacecraft with astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley docked with the International Space Station on May 31. [Forward]
Take a look inside the Dragon Crew Capsule built by SpaceX that will carry veteran astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station. [Forward]
The test, which did not have NASA astronauts on board, demonstrated Crew Dragon’s ability to reliably carry crew to safety in the unlikely event of an emergency on ascent. [Forward]
Doug Loverro, head of human spaceflight at NASA, resigned after only 6 months on the job, and a week before the historic return to flight for the human spaceflight program. [Forward]
China will carry out 11 missions in two years to construct a space station by 2023. Schedule was revealed after successful test flight of the Long March 5B heavy-lift rocket. [Forward]
OSIRIS-REx mission has targeted Oct. 20 for its first sample collection attempt. The spacecraft is scheduled to depart Bennu in mid-2021, and will return the sample to Earth in 2023. [Forward]
SpaceX is testing early versions of the spacecraft it envisions, evaluating potential landing sites, and thinking through what a long-term base on the Red Planet might look like. [Forward]
Astronomy | Astrophysics | Cosmology
Nature Astronomy’s study suggests ‘Oumuamua’ was once part of a planet that got too close to its host star and was ripped to shreds in a process called tidal fragmentation. [Forward]
A region of reduced magnetic intensity has developed between Africa and South America, called the South Atlantic Anomaly. It may be a sign the north and south poles are reversing. [Forward]
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are powerful milliseconds long pulses of radio waves coming from distant galaxies. Scientists have used them to develop a technique to weigh intergalactic matter. [Forward]
It’s the first direct evidence that such star-shredding events can accelerate subatomic particles to extreme energies, and the second time a high-energy neutrino has been traced back to its origins. [Forward]
Events
Space News provides ongoing coverage and daily updates of the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the global space industry, including a list of all delayed or canceled space events. [Forward]
Conference organizers have announced that the 34th Annual Small Satellite Conference, scheduled for August 1-6 in Logan, Utah, will be held “in a virtual format with no on-site presence.” [Forward]
Join TechCrunch's editors in Los Angeles on December 17 for a day of fireside chats and panel discussion with the top investors, founders, and technologists forging the future of space. [Forward]