Orbit

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.

Orbex has publicly unveiled the full-scale prototype of its reusable Prime rocket on its pad at Space Hub Sutherland in northern Scotland, where the first-ever vertical launch of a satellite from UK soil is set to be carried out in the coming months.

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.

A new mathematical study suggests that the abandoned Ascent Stage of the Apollo 11 mission's Eagle Lunar Module, long believed to have crashed on the Moon in 1969, may be circling our largest natural satellite in a stable orbit.

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.

NASA has completed a milestone test of the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) sunshield, which will protect the flagship observatory from the Sun’s radiation as it unravels the secrets of the cosmos.

ESA has released a breathtaking mosaic of the Red Planet, stitched together from images taken by the Mars Express spacecraft.

ESA has been forced to reposition its Aeolus satellite to avoid a collision with a member of SpaceX’s Starlink mega constellation.