Smallsat company reveals Earth observation plans

An image of the Earth taken from Planet Labs’s Dove-2 satellite in April. The company announced plans Wednesday to launch a fleet of smallsats to provide global, frequent coverage of the Earth for commercial and humanitarian purposes. (credit: Planet Labs)

A smallsat company that had been operating in stealth mode formally announced its plans […]

Planetary Resources breaks the million-dollar mark in its crowdfunding campaign

Shortly before 9:30 pm EDT Wednesday evening, Planetary Resources ongoing Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign passed the $1-million mark, its original goal. That was a major milestone for the effort, since Kickstarter efforts are done on an all-or-nothing basis: campaigns only get the money pledged if the total meets or exceeds the stated goal. If they had […]

Stratolaunch Systems shows off its new partnership with Orbital

Earlier this month Stratolaunch Systems confirmed one of the worst-kept secrets in the space industry: its new partnership with Orbital Sciences Corporation to develop the launch vehicle for its air-launch system. Since late last year, after Stratolaunch ended its original partnership with SpaceX, Stratolaunch was rumored to be in discussions with Orbital. Earlier this […]

Planetary Resources offers a stretch goal to reinvigorate its crowdfunding campaign

Planetary Resources says its Arkyd-100 spacecraft can be used for exoplanet searches if it reaches a stretch goal of $2 million in its ongoing crowdfunding campaign.

Yesterday, asteroid mining company Planetary Resources announced a “stretch goal” for its ongoing million-dollar crowdfunding effort: if the company can raise at least $2 million, double its original […]