Space Commerce Week

Blue Ghost captured a solar eclipse from a unique angle this week. Here are some of the top stories from The Journal of Space Commerce this week. Normally, when we think about a solar eclipse, it's the Moon crossing in front of the Sun and casting a shadow on Earth. But this week, the Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost lander watched the Earth pass in front of the sun from its vantage point on the Moon...

Space exploration is all about successes and setbacks, and there was some of both this week. I'm Tom Patton, and here are some of the top stories from The Journal of Space Commerce this week. We'll start with a success. On Sunday, Blue Ghost Mission 1 ... dubbed by Firefly Aerospace as "Ghost Riders in the Sky"… successfully landed on the Moon . The achievement marked the first time that a commerc...

Starship tries again for orbit, and Intuitive Machines is on its way back to the Moon. I'm Tom Patton, and here are some of the top stories from The Journal of Space Commerce this week. SpaceX has updated its projection for the 8th Starship test flight to not earlier than Monday, March 3. The launch window will open at 5:30 p.m. CT. The launch was originally planned for last Friday, but it was del...

A bi-partisan group of senators has reintroduced the Situational Awareness of Flying Elements, or SAFE, in Orbit Act , which would encourage the development of commercial space capabilities. That would be accomplished by directing the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) to acquire and disseminate unclassified data, analytics, information, and services on space activities and space traffic coordination...

House members are requesting a review of the space launch licensing process. Here are some of the top stories this week from The Journal of Space Commerce. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Brian Babin (R-TX) and Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) have sent a letter to the Comptroller General requesting an independent review of the federal processes for licensing commercial la...

Are you interested in a Moon Rover ... low miles, never used? After the program was cancelled in 2024, NASA is now looking to secure a public/private partnership and land and operate NASA’s VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) mission on the Moon. As part of an agreement, NASA would contribute the existing VIPER rover as-is. Potential partners would need to arrange for the integ...

The 24th edition of the Novaspace annual Government Space Programs (GSP) report reveals that global government space investments reached approximately $135 billion in 2024, a 10% increase compared to 2023. Defense spending, now the majority of budgets at $73 billion (54%), underscores space’s growing importance as a contested and strategic domain. The widening gap underscores the growing emphasis...

Analysts are still bullish on the potential for the space economy. For evidence, we cite the 11th Edition of the Novaspace Space Economy Report , which forecasts that the global space economy will grow from $596 billion in 2024, to $944 billion by 2033. This steady growth, driven primarily by advancements in downstream solutions, could mark a pivotal decade for the industry. The report emphasizes...

People who count backwards to zero got a good workout this week, with multiple notable launches on both coasts. And some were more successful than others. We'll start with New Glenn , which after years of delays and several scrubs got off the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station very early on Thursday morning, marking a first step towards Blue Origin challenging SpaceX for a piece of t...

An agreement has been reached between SpaceX and Vast to launch two crewed missions to the International Space Station in support of Vast’s future bid for NASA’s private astronaut missions (PAM). These missions, contingent on Vast being selected by NASA, will be the fifth and sixth such missions ever awarded by the agency. While Vast is developing its private space station, Haven-1, the company pl...

NASA is now targeting no earlier than March for the launch of the SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station. The change gives NASA and SpaceX teams time to complete processing on a new Dragon spacecraft for the mission. The new spacecraft is set to arrive at the company’s processing facility in Florida in a few days. NASA and SpaceX assessed various options for managing the next cr...

Earlier this month, the Office of Space Commerce’s Gabriel Swiney and Mariel Borowitz joined key U.S space diplomacy efforts in the United Arab Emirates . First, OSC participated in a U.S. space trade mission to UAE, organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The delegation visited the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center in Dubai, engaging with international partners and the UAE space sector in prepa...

As the volume of orbital debris continues to grow, the need for precise and reliable prediction methods has never been more critical to ensure safety and operational integrity of our space assets. Traditional models often fall short in accounting for the complex dynamics of space environments. However, by integrating the principles of physics directly into neural network architectures, Sierra Spac...

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated entrepreneur Jarad Isaacman to be the next Administrator of NASA. Isaacman has financed and led two private missions into space carrying all-civilian crews. In 2021, Isaacman was commander of the Inspiration4 mission, which was the first orbital spaceflight with an all-private crew. Then earlier this year, Isaacman was commander of the Polaris Dawn missio...

The sixth flight test of the SpaceX Starship launched from Starbase on Tuesday, seeking to expand the envelope on ship and booster capabilities and get closer to bringing reuse of the entire system online. The Super Heavy booster successfully lifted off at the start of the launch window, with all 33 Raptor engines powering it and Starship off the pad from Starbase. Following a nominal ascent and s...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ended Fiscal Year 2024 with a record 148 licensed commercial space operations , up more than 30 percent over the prior year. The FAA forecasts that number may more than double by FY 2028. To address the expected surge in launches, the agency plans to stand up an Aerospace Rulemaking Committee to update the FAA’s Part 450 launch and reentry licensing rule....

Three of our top stories came literally from the far side of the planet from JSC HQ this week. For starters, Australia's Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic MP, and the Australian Space Agency granted the country’s first orbital launch permit to Gilmour Space Technologies for its maiden Eris rocket launch from the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in north Queensland. The upcoming TestFlight1 will b...