[Space] 2023.10.15

Join over 1,700 collegiate rocketeers and faculty alongside industry representatives for an opportunity to collaborate and compete at a world class spaceport facility. Registration due October 20, 2023.

Submit groundbreaking concepts to detect, characterize, track, or remediate small debris in low-earth orbit for safer, more sustainable space operations. Prize: $20,000. Closes: November 15, 2023. 

Join the NASA Space Tech Catalyst Prize to share best practices for supporting underrepresented and diverse space technology innovators, researchers, technologists and entrepreneurs. Win $25,000 for the most effective strategies and approaches. Informational webinar:  October 25, 2023. Register by February 8, 2024.

Space Talent is a resource for careers at the intersection of space and tech. They match employers with top talent while providing insights and resources to grow your career.

NASA's Software Catalog offers hundreds of software programs, free to use in a wide variety of technical applications. Releases include a wing-design algorithm and an AR/VR toolkit for spacecraft design and mission telemetry.

International Space Station laboratories seen during spacewalk. Credit:  European Space Agency

Resources for sending your technology demonstration or science experiment to the space station, including In Space Production Applications (InSPA) awards to help companies toward development of sustainable demand for services and products in low Earth orbit. 

Two satellite industry events hosted back-to-back. Satellite Innovation focuses on analyzing next-generation satellite technologies and the current business environment, while MilSat Symposium will focus on space defense. $50-2,195. Mountain View, CA. October 17-20, 2023.

Discussion of the next phase of lunar exploration and economic opportunities. Speakers to include Rich Boling at Redwire Space, Steven Lugauer, from the University of Kentucky Department of Economics and George Sowers with the Colorado School of Mines. Free. Online. October 20, 2023. 

Hear from space industry leaders and educators across space sectors such as NASA’s George Whitesides and Blue Origin’s Liz Warren as they discuss challenges of space activity. $699-1699. Las Vegas, NV. October 23-25, 2023. 

Advancing Space: From LEO to Lunar and Beyond is the theme for the 2023 von Braun Symposium. Connect with space industry leaders on future opportunities and challenges in space science and exploration. $20-$875. Alabama. October 25-27, 2023.

Insights and discussions on key military issues. Get access to senior officials from a variety of nations, with representatives from India, South Africa, Portugal and Peru added in 2023. Tickets £1198-2898. London, UK. November 6-9, 2023.

Join the first biannual COSMIC general membership meeting to encourage widespread adoption of in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) capabilities as an integrated segment of space enterprise architecture. The kickoff will feature NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, and U.S. Space Force Major General John M. Olson. $150-$10. Online and University of Maryland. November 7-8, 2023. 

A showcase of the latest technologies, networking opportunities, and topical debates around new technologies. Free. Bremen, Germany. November 14-16, 2023.

The annual workshop, organized by the Satellite Industry Association (SIA) in partnership with U.S. Space Command, brings together leaders from various DoD agencies to discuss policy and operational issues related to commercial and military satellite communications. Arlington, Virginia. December 12-14, 2023.

Commercial space entrepreneurs, innovators, and investors will convene at Space for Inspiration 2024 to learn about discoveries and groundbreaking ventures in the LEO and lunar economies. January 18-19, 2024.

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Washington-based Stoke Space raised $100 million in funds led by Industrious Ventures to develop Nova, a fully reusable rocket. Stoke's fresh backing comes weeks after the company successfully completed a low altitude flight test of its Hopper2 prototype. Other investors include the University of Michigan, Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy, Y Combinator, Point72 Ventures, Toyota Ventures and In-Q-Tel.

Intelsat and Relativity Space Terran R launches scheduled for 2026. Credit: Relativity Space

Satellite operator Intelsat has signed an agreement for multiple launches of Relativity Space’s Terran R reusable launch vehicle set to begin in 2026. Relativity Space now has a backlog of more than $1.8 billion from nine customers, up from $1.65 billion in April. 

Japanese small satellite thruster developer Pale Blue has raised $7.5 million in loans and Series B funding from existing investors Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital and Incubate Fund to establish a mass production facility for its water vapor propulsion systems. 

Startup Proteus Space has raised a $4.2 million seed round led by Moonshots Capital to develop customized satellites with the assistance of artificial intelligence as an alternative to standardized buses.

A rendering of the “Orbital Reef” space station in orbit. Credit: Blue Origin

Orbital Reef may fold as Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lunar lander and Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane hold higher priority status, according to sources. Orbital Reef was envisioned as a “mixed use business park” with the first pieces scheduled to launch in 2027. The Orbital Reef team includes Boeing, Redwire, Amazon, and Arizona State University.

Starlab commercial space station. Credit: Voyager Space

Northrop Grumman announced it will assist Voyager Space rather than developing its own commercial space station. The companies will cooperate on developing fully autonomous docking systems for Northrop’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft compatible with Starlab.

Amazon launched Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2 on a United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket. Project Kuiper is Amazon's plan for a 3,236 satellite constellation providing high speed internet from low Earth orbit. 

Prada will collaborate with Axiom on the flexible, protective outer layer for spacesuits used in the Artemis 3 mission. They are banking on Prada’s expertise in composite materials, dating back to a 1990s yachting team it founded to compete for the America’s Cup.

Spanish launch company PLD Space successfully launched its suborbital Miura 1 rocket to an altitude of 46 km before returning. This marks the first success for Europe's new space launch companies and the dawn of the European commercial space age. 

Intuitive Machines’ 4.3-meter tall Nova-C lunar lander is tentatively scheduled to launch on November 16 on a Falcon 9 rocket. A successful landing would be the first for the US since Apollo 17 in December 1972. Intuitive is racing against Astrobotic and its Peregrine lander.

The preliminary investigation of more than a half-pound of material from the 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid Bennu revealed water, organic compounds and 4.7 percent carbon. Asteroids like Bennu were most likely responsible for Earth’s oceans.

Life has existed on Earth for about 4 billion years, but some scientists speculate it might have started right after the Big Bang, when the entire universe may have been habitable. This might explain how life with complex genomes appear to arise so rapidly after Earth's formation.