Space industry
SpaceX adds $25 monthly fee for users to temporarily change Starlink locations
Elon Musk’s SpaceX rolled out a $25 monthly fee this week for customers who seek to relocate their Starlink internet service satellite dishes. “Portability enables customers to temporarily move their Starlink to new locations and receive high-speed internet anywhere Starlink provides active coverage within the same continent,” SpaceX wrote in an email to customers on […]
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SpaceX is expanding the solar farm at its South Texas launch facility
SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. Michael Sheetz | CNBC SpaceX is expanding the solar farm at its Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, according to documents obtained by CNBC from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The FWS documents, known as a draft biological conference and opinion (BCO), reveal that SpaceX is increasing the […]
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Rocket Lab CEO touts successful helicopter catch of rocket as key toward reusable goals
The Electron booster comes into view of the company’s helicopter for the catch. Rocket Lab Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck heralded the company’s first attempt on Monday to catch its Electron rocket booster using a helicopter after launch as “phenomenal,” telling CNBC that the test “achieved 99%” of the company’s goals toward reusing rockets. “Yesterday […]
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NASA chief says competition is making space exploration cheaper, in dramatic shift on contracts
The Artemis 1 mission Space Launch System (SLS) rocket Frank Michaux / NASA The head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Tuesday discussed a dramatic shift in how the agency plans to issue contracts for its space exploration programs, citing success with cost-saving competitive bids. NASA administrator Bill Nelson, testifying before a Senate […]
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SpaceX Starbase expansion plans will harm endangered species, according to Fish and Wildlife Service
A newly hatched piping plover chick stands next to one of its parents, Monty or Rose, at Montrose Beach on July 10, 2021. John J. Kim | Tribune News Service | Getty Images SpaceX must take steps to track and mitigate its impact on endangered species and their habitat in order to gain approvals for […]
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Rocket Lab helicopter catches but drops rocket booster in first reuse attempt
The Electron booster comes into view of the company’s helicopter for the catch. Rocket Lab Space company Rocket Lab briefly caught its Electron rocket using a helicopter after a launch for the first time on Monday, but released the booster and dropped it into the ocean before recovering it. “After the catch the helicopter pilot […]
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About 150,000 people are using SpaceX’s Starlink internet service daily in Ukraine, government official says
A shipment of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite antennas, also known as terminals, arriving in Ukraine. Fedorov Mykhailo on Twitter Elon Musk’s SpaceX continues to expand its Starlink satellite internet network in besieged Ukraine, with a government official saying that about 150,000 people use the service in the country each day. Ukraine digital minister Mykhailo Fedorov wrote […]
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Amazon has bold ambitions to take on SpaceX in the satellite internet business
Amazon has a plan to deliver internet from space using 3,236 small satellites in low Earth orbit. It’s called Project Kuiper. In April, the company signed a multibillion-dollar contract — the largest rocket deal in the history of the commercial space industry — for launches of its Kuiper satellites with three different entities: Jeff Bezos’s […]
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FAA delays environmental review of SpaceX’s Starship launches from Texas for a fourth time
SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. Michael Sheetz | CNBC The Federal Aviation Administration for a fourth time delayed its environmental review of SpaceX’s Starship rocket program in Texas, pushing a decision to the end of May. SpaceX needs a license from the FAA to conduct further Starship flight tests and begin operational launches from […]
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SpaceX launches Crew-4 mission for NASA, has now sent 26 astronauts to space in under two years
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft Freedom launches the Crew-4 mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 27, 2022. Aubrey Gemignani | NASA SpaceX launched a group of astronauts for NASA early on Wednesday morning, with Elon Musk’s company now having sent 26 people to orbit in less than […]
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