Orbit

We speak to the wild man behind Longshot Space, a company planning to build a colossal 6-mile-long (10-km) space cannon to shoot several-ton objects into low Earth orbit (LEO). The company has already built a working proof of concept.

Star Catcher Industries has secured US$12.25 million in seed funding for its ambitious plan to build the first “space-based energy grid.” A network of satellites would gather and concentrate solar energy and beam it to other satellites in orbit.

Power demand spikes in the early morning and later evening, when solar arrays can't help. But researchers in Scotland say orbital launch costs are getting so cheap that giant space-based reflectors could soon be a viable way to power these timeslots.

Two test satellites blasted off on board a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket emblazoned with Amazon’s famous logo on Friday, ahead of more than 3,200 planned to orbit the Earth, challenging Elon Musk’s reign over broadband real estate in space.

A Caltech team is celebrating the world's first space-based wireless power transmission, and the first time detectable levels of power have been beamed down to Earth. The Space Solar Power Project aims to unlock huge orbital clean energy resources.

Texan startup Firefly Aerospace has joined the growing group of orbit-capable space startups, with the successful launch of its Alpha rocket over the weekend, which saw a set of satellites deployed into low-Earth orbit.

NASA took its first step today in establishing its Gateway orbital lunar outpost with the launch of its CAPSTONE CubeSat that will be used to test a new lunar orbit slated for the future space station.

In many ways, space is the perfect place for a solar energy array. In other ways, it poses massive technical challenges. China's Xidian University has begun testing the full range of space solar functions with a purpose-built 75-meter tower facility.

A new player has joined the ranks of private spacefaring outfits with the ability to reach orbit, following the successful lift-off for startup Astra's launch vehicle just five years after the company was established.

Debris orbiting in high Earth orbit is not being tracked closely enough, according to the results of a new survey, and could pose an unexpected threat to important satellites that provide communication, weather observation and navigation services.

SpaceX has announced that it will mount a sun visor on each of its Starlink satellites and have them perform controlled maneuvers, to make them less visible to the public and astronomers making detailed observations of the night sky.

The introduction of 26 thousand new megaconstellation satellites could have a significant effect on ground-based astronomy, according to a new study commissioned by the European Southern Observatory.