Space Economy

The world of commercial space exploration is in its early stages and likely to see significant progress over the next decade. One European venture, The Exploration Company (TEC), aims to be a leader here. The company designs spacecraft and produces space capsules. Its first small capsule, Bikini, will soon launch on the inaugural Ariane 6...

MDA Space has won a large new contract worth around $730 million from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for the for the next phases of the Canadarm3 program, an advanced space robotics system. Canadarm3 will be used aboard Gateway, a multinational collaboration led by NASA to establish a space station in lunar orbit to support...

NASA awarded SpaceX a contract worth up to $843 million to develop a vehicle to deorbit the International Space Station (ISS), the agency announced Wednesday.  NASA said in the announcement that it is “crucial to prepare for the safe and responsible deorbit of the International Space Station in a controlled manner after the end of...

Swedish Space Corporation (SSC Space US) will work with ispace-US on their upcoming Mission 3 with the APEX 1.0 lunar lander, thanks to a new collaboration agreement. SSC will provide critical communication links to the mission through its advanced SSC Connect lunar ground station network capabilities. The two companies announced the collaboration, June 25. ispace-U.S.’s...

Space station manufacturer Vast and the European Space Agency (ESA) will collaborate to accelerate human spaceflight missions in LEO under the terms of a new partnership agreement announced June 6. The agreement outlines the parties’ intention to foster human spaceflight, science, technology and commercialization development and explore collaboration in LEO destinations other than the International...

Boeing and NASA have successfully launched the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on a ULA Atlas V rocket. Liftoff took place at approximately 10:55 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA confirmed minutes later that the spacecraft successfully reached orbit. Starliner will now spend more than 24 hours traveling...

MDA Space is joining Starlab Space, the joint venture between Voyager Space, Airbus, and Mitsubishi Corporation, to contribute to building the Starlab commercial space station. MDA Space is now a strategic partner and an equity owner in Starlab Space, the company announced Wednesday.  Financial terms of the equity deal were not disclosed.  Starlab Space is...

Blue Origin flew a crew of astronauts to the edge of space on May 19, returning the New Shepard rocket to crewed flight after a gap of almost two years. The mission was a success with a special nod to history. Ed Dwight, who was the first Black astronaut candidate in the 1960s but not...

It’s been said that access to space is more available.  It’s been said that the unit economics are more reasonable for aspiring orbital explorers.  However, the answers to the questions of where and why are still ephemeral for those not in a capital raise in our industry. Be it the proliferation of small satellites in...

The global space economy could be worth close to $2 trillion by 2035. This is according to a new World Economic Forum report released this week. The report says it expects the sector’s valuation to surge up to $1.8 trillion by 2035 and be roughly rival the size and reach of the global semiconductor industry...