Page 3 - Bryce Space News Today

Richard Branson’s California-based satellite launch company, Virgin Orbit, has added two highly respected space industry veterans to its executive leadership team. The company announced Thursday that it hired former ILS President Kirk Pysher and Janice Starzyk, another former ILS executive who also led commercial strategy for Bryce Space and Technology and United Launch Alliance (ULA). Pysher will serve as Virgin Orbit’s vice president of mission assurance, quality and safety, and Starz...

The program, dubbed Transporter-1, offers satellite operators a new way of putting compact satellites into a sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at a cost of $1 million for a 440 pounds (200kg) satellite with additional mass priced at $5,000 per 2.2 pounds.  "SpaceXs rideshare offering provides increased access to space for small satellite operators seeking a reliable, affordable ride to orbit," SpaceX said.  SEE: (TechRepublic) There were 133 commercial and government spacecraft on this flight, in...

SpaceX plans record-breaking launch with 143 satellites By (0) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, similar to the one shown that was launched in 2020, is packed with dozens of satellites for the Transporter-1 rideshare launch Saturday. File Photo by Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo A Lemur-2 satellite built by California-based Spire Global, like the one shown in processing by the European Space Agency during a recent mission, is on board the SpaceX Transporter-1 mission planned for launch Saturday. Photo...

SABRE-powered launch system beyond 2030 The Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine, SABRE, is being developed by Reaction Engines in the UK and has previously been supported by ESA. This engine could be used to power a horizontally launched vehicle using either a one- or two-stage-to-orbit concept. In both cases, the SABRE-powered first stage would be fully reusable. During flight, SABRE is designed to reach hypersonic speed through Earth’s atmosphere before switching to rocket mode on the cl...

Chris Wu Contributor Chris is an Electrical Engineering MS student at Stanford. He enjoys tinkering and contributing to the development of new technologies, from internet satellites to medical devices. Wouter Julien Luc Van Gijseghem Contributor Wouter is an aerospace engineer at Wing. Recently graduated from Stanford, he loves anything that flies. Maurizio Valesani Contributor Maurizio holds a MS in Aerospace Engineering from Polytechnic Universi...

Image: NASA As most of the world slowed to a pandemic-induced halt this year, the space industry rocketed forward. A pair of astronauts launched to orbit on a private spacecraft for the first time. Three separate missions blasted off to Mars. And a robot hundreds of millions of miles from Earth grabbed the largest sample of an asteroid ever captured. Looking back on 2020, space turned out to be a relative bright spot in a particularly dark year. Boosted by government contracts and increased dem...