Rocket Lab

Land-based launch sites for orbital rockets just got the flat-pack treatment as Rocket Lab announced its Global Hypersonic & Orbital Spaceport Technology (GHOST) system. The initiative packs a complete launch system into standard shipping containers.

The US Space Force is investing billions of dollars in next-gen tech to expand its threat detection capabilities. One of its programs will see flat-pack satellites being deployed to low earth orbit to track airborne threats.

SpaceX has once again set the record for flying the largest and most powerful rocket in history. It's also on the verge of launching more satellites than the rest of the world combined since Sputnik. Are we witnessing the beginning of a new Space Age?

On April 23, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched several satellites into low-Earth orbit including a 10-cm (3.9-inch) "origami" cube satellite with a reflectarray antenna that unfurls, origami-like, to 25 times its size when folded.

Australia's Hypersonix Launch Systems has made a historic launch of its next-generation DART AE hypersonic aircraft from Wallops Island, Virginia. Taking off aboard Rocket Lab's HASTE launch vehicle, the DART AE reached a top speed of Mach 8.

The US Air Force is investing in a transport system that could one day deliver 100 tonnes for cargo or personnel by rocket to any spot on Earth in under 90 minutes. Unimaginatively called Rocket Cargo, it may begin preliminary tests next year.

Rocket Lab's Neutron is the largest composite rocket ever made. It used to take a large team several weeks to hand-layer that much carbon fiber – but with the company's new Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) machine, it can now be done in a single day.

The world's most advanced solar sail spacecraft began its epic odyssey as it lifted off atop a Rocket Lab Electron launcher from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand. It was one of two payloads on the Beginning Of The Swarm mission.

Better known for building and flying lightweight small and medium orbital launchers, Rocket Lab is branching out. The company has announced the successful full launch of its HASTE rocket, which is designed to boost hypersonic vehicles well past Mach 5.

Space launch company Virgin Orbit has been grounded for good after a US bankruptcy court broke it up and sold off its assets to bidders. The demise of the ambitious venture comes after a failed attempt to conduct its first mission in January.

Rocket Lab captured one of its rockets for the first time in May, and has since been busy refurbishing it and working towards another notable milestone, proving it can work again just like a brand new one.

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.