Space race: The ambitions, plans and delays of launching superpowers August 26, 2021 Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, following its landmark human flight last month, has launched an uncrewed mission of NASAs future moon landing technology today. The flight, known as NS-17 or New Shepard 17, set off from a Blue Origin site in West Texas. The NASA payload on board is to test technologies including a Doppler Lidar [...]
Space SPAC: Seraphim-backed satellite firm Spire makes New York debut August 18, 2021 Space investor Seraphim has announced its portfolio company Spire, which provides satellites for space, has debuted on the New York Stock Exchange after becoming the latest space company to close a merger via SPAC. Spire has merged with special acquisition company NavSight Holdings, which valued the satellite firm at $1.6bn in equity. The new combined [...]
New frontier: UK renews outdated space policies as giants seek commercial travel July 29, 2021 The UK is set to start regulating commercial space travel from today, as an increasing number of companies look to capitalise on the race to the stars. Before appointing its first-ever space travel regulator, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (UK CAA), the global legal framework surrounding commercial space travel appeared a relic of the Cold [...]
Bezos offers to cover $2bn of Nasa costs for lunar contract July 27, 2021 Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos offered Nasa a $2bn (£1.45bn) discount if the space agency allows its company Blue Origin to build a spacecraft to land astronauts on the moon. Bezos said Blue Origin would waive payments up to $2bn in the current and next two fiscal years “to get the program back on track right [...]
Space-tech: Billionaire Bezos’ flight to space to draw in starry-eyed investors July 21, 2021 Following Amazon boss Jeff Bezos’ 10-minute venture into space yesterday, space-tech investment may be set to rocket, space-fund boss Mark Boggett has said. Just last week Boggett’s space investment firm Seraphim Space listed on the London Stock Exchange after rallying £178.4m from starry-eyed investors in mid-July. “Branson, Musk and Bezos initially cracked open the [...]
SpaceIL secures funding for second lunar landing attempt after 2019 crash July 12, 2021 SpaceIL, the non-profit Israeli initiative whose spacecraft crashed on the moon two years ago, has said that it has secured £50m in funding to make a second attempt at a lunar landing. SpaceIL said the new pledges means that it has raised almost all of the 100 million dollars (£71.9 million) it estimates is needed [...]
Branson and Bezos space race outruns insurers July 9, 2021 Billionaires Sir Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos are reportedly launching into space without insurance for injury or death. Brokers told the NYT’s Dealbook newsletter neither Branson or Bezos, or their respective companies Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, have purchased liability insurance. This is most likely because there isn’t a fully functioning insurance system for casual [...]
Space investor Seraphim injects cash into two firms ahead of London float July 8, 2021 Space technology investor Seraphim Capital has invested into two UK satellite and AI companies ahead of its London IPO float tomorrow, as the UK cements itself within the latest space race. Investing £2m into firms Isotropic Systems, which operates satellite networks and Commodities AI, which deals with space data and artificial intelligence (AI), Seraphim is [...]
Virgin Galactic granted license to take customers to space June 25, 2021 Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has today received a commercial licence to fly customers into space, the firm announced today. The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has updated its existing licence to fly test missions to include commercial passengers. The decision to grant the company a full license comes after a successful test flight last [...]
LA firm raises £450m to 3D-print rockets to help us live on Mars (really) June 9, 2021 Blackrock and actor Jared Leto are among investors in a $650m (£450m) capital raise by a Californian firm which plans to 3D-print rocket boosters that the founder claims are part of efforts to live on Mars. Relativity Space, founded by Tim Ellis – a former engineer at Jeff Bezos’ space firm Blue Origin – is [...]