Expedition Space: Space Launch, Events, News

by Brian Berger Amanda Gorman recites her inaugural poem, “The Hill We Climb,” during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony. Credit: DoD photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II O n Jan. 20, 2021, Amanda Gorman became the United States’ youngest inaugural poet laureate, addressing the newly sworn-in President Biden and the world with a striking message: And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. At a moment when dystopian futures seem to loom larger than ever, individuals everywhere are trying to make sense of the tragic aftermaths of the past year:  surging cycles of COVID mutations, reams of shocking footage uncoiling deeply ingrained racial injustice, and widening swathes of irreversible environmental destruction heightening in severity...

by Debra Werner SAN FRANCISCO – Albedo, the space startup planning to offer Earth imagery with a resolution of 10 centimeters per pixel, raised $10 million in a seed funding round led by Initialized Capital. Additional investors include Liquid 2 Ventures, Soma Capital, Jetstream and Rebel Fund. “The funding will be used to hire more engineers on both the space and ground teams, as well as to continue the development of the first satellite with our partner suppliers,” Topher Haddad, Albedo co-founder and CEO, told SpaceNews. In its April 22 funding announcement, Albedo also revealed a slate of angel investors: retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom Sheridan; Keith Masback, former CEO of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation; Lookout co-founder Kevin Mahaffey; Daniel Kan, Cruise co-founder and chief product officer; Immad Akhund, Mercury co-founder and CEO; James Park, Fitbit cofounder and former CEO; and Harsh Patel, former Galvanize CEO. One of the firm’s goals was to attract ...

by Jeff Foust WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin has signed a contract with small launch vehicle developer ABL Space Systems for as many as 58 launches over the next decade, a deal potentially worth several hundred million dollars. The contract, announced April 5, covers up to 26 launches of ABL’s RS1 rocket through 2025, and an additional 32 launches from 2026 through 2029. Those launches would take place from any of several potential locations, including Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Vandenberg Air Force Base and the Shetland Space Centre under development in the United Kingdom. The companies declined to disclose the total value of the contract. ABL lists a price of $12 million for the RS1, which would put the total value of the contract at $696 million if Lockheed orders all 58 launches at that price, although such bulk purchases usually offer some level of discount. Lockheed, which made a “strategic investment” in ABL in 2019 , selected the company’s RS1 in February for the “...