Space

“Going to the moon is no joke.” So said Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck, just days before the planned launch of CAPSTONE, a watershed mission for both NASA and the private space industry. The mission is important, though you might not assume so based on the stats of the CAPSTONE CubeSat on its own: I

The testing campaign for NASA’s super big, super expensive Space Launch System is now complete, the agency declared on Friday. All that’s left now for the rocket is launch the Artemis I demonstration mission to the moon, the first in a long line of planned missions to eventually return

Atitsre:Marsconference,AmazontodayannouncedthatitquietlysentoneofitsAWSSnowconeedgecomputingandstoragedevicesintospaceontheAxiommissiontotheInternationalSpaceStation. Forthemostpart,thiswasanoff-the-shelfSnowcone,whichAWSalreadybuilttoberuggedenoughtobeshippedbyUPS,thoughthecompanyhadtodomonthsofte

The space industry is evolving, as are the tools it uses; Epsilon3 is a startup trying to make launches, satellite design, rocket manufacturing, and other complex processes easier and more collaborative. The company has found its tools have uses beyond space and growing traction across the board ha

Nuclear fission may have to overcome a public perception hurdle here on Earth in order to get the funding and development it needs to advance sufficiently to help our with our de-carbonization efforts, but the mostly empty lunar surface sidesteps a lot of nuclear’s image problem. NASA announc

Hello and welcome back to Max Q. This issue is very, very, very SpaceX heavy. Depending on how you feel about the company, you’ll either love or hate it! In this issue: SpaceX employees share open letter on Elon Musk, promptly get fired Meanwhile, SpaceX clears major regulatory hurtle, first

SpaceX moved quickly to terminate at least some of the employees involved in the open letter circulated through the company’s internal communications system this past Wednesday, The New York Times reports. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell also circulated an email to the company outlining the

Firefly Aerospace is on the hunt for a new CEO, after it announced Wednesday that co-founder Tom Markusic is transitioning to chief technical advisor and full-time board member. The leadership switch-up comes just four months after private equity firm AE Industrial Partners (AEI) bought out Ukrania

SpaceX employees have posted an open letter to the company’s internal communication system asking leadership at the company to implement a number of measures, with the stated aim of ensuring that SpaceX’s actual “systems and culture” live up “to its stated values,̶

The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday published its highly anticipated environmental assessment of SpaceX’s Starbase launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, and the Starship launch program, with the agency finding that SpaceX’s plans would not result in significant impacts to the envi

Rocket launch company Astra isn't starting out with the best track record, after its latest mission for NASA ended in failure — just a few months after its last rocket carrying payloads for the agency failed to reach orbit. The TROPICS mission included two CubeSats intended to join NASA's

NASA has announced the formation of a study team dedicated to UFOs — or unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), as they’ve been rebranded to shed some of their tin-foil-hat stigma. But don’t expect some sort of “X-Files” team seeking to prove the existence of extraterrestria

Volocopter’s drone taxi is one step closer to entering service. The German firm has revealed that its four-seat electric VTOL aircraft, the VoloConnect, completed its first flight in May. The machine’s initial trip was brief at two minutes and 14 seconds, but the maneuvers proved that t

Hello and welcome back to Max Q. In this issue: New threads for astronauts Ursa Major’s latest addition to its rocket engine line-up News from Blue Origin and more Don't forget to sign up to get the free newsletter version of Max Q delivered to your inbox. NASA turns to private industry