Each month we round up some of the top stories in space, entrepreneurship, innovation, finance and technology.
Here’s our round-up for January:
Spire Global is expanding cubesat constellation to offer persistent global view
Spire Global, which operates 48 GPS radio occultation cubesats, could provide a persistent view of about 97 percent of Earth with a constellation of 150 satellites, said Alexander “Sandy” MacDonald, Spire’s global validation model director. Read more in SpaceNews.
France, Germany studying reusability with a subscale flyback booster
Reusable rocketry in Europe took a step forward last year with a funding boost for Prometheus, a program meant to develop a reusable engine manufacturable at one-tenth the cost of the Ariane 5’s first-stage liquid engine. A parallel effort dubbed Callisto could test a European ability to launch, return and refly a rocket from the Guiana Space Centre in South America.
Lead image: “We are lacking an experience by operation of recovering a vehicle and reflying it. This is exactly what we would like to do with Callisto,” — Jean-Marc Astorg, head of Launch Vehicles Directorate, CNES. Credit: CNES
Jeff Bezos just launched a dummy called ‘Mannequin Skywalker’ into space and safely returned it to Earth
Astronauts on a space station have started to 3D-print tools, creating a new frontier and new techniques for industry. They are exploring on-site manufacturing of space equipment, telecommunications and even medical uses, says FT industry reporter Michael Pooler.
Read more here.
The next (Chinese) SpaceX?
Chinese company Linkspace Aerospace Technology Inc. demonstrates its first vertical take-off and landing.
Can you believe it? This is a rocket hover flight test controlled by machine learning! pic.twitter.com/R5G6KrFn8k
— Linkspace (@Linkspace_China) January 3, 2018
We were very excited and accomplished a milestone. The first vertical take-off and landing rocket was a rectangular ballistic flight in China, research & developed by LINKSPACE ! pic.twitter.com/W60RjPrXDh
— Linkspace (@Linkspace_China) January 9, 2018
Bulgarian start-ups make CubeSats and bee detectors
The Financial times looks at Bulgarian startups EnduroSat, Bee Smart Technologies and BulPros
Read the full article at the FT.
SpaceX has test fired its Falcon Heavy rocket
The crucial test clears the way for a launch in early February.
Falcon Heavy hold-down firing this morning was good. Generated quite a thunderhead of steam. Launching in a week or so. pic.twitter.com/npaqatbNir
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 24, 2018
How To Launch A Space Startup
Funding for space startups reached record highs last year. Check out this great read from Fast Company on “How to Launch a Space Startup,” featuring interviews with entrepreneurial space pioneers including Space Angels.