NASA

WASHINGTON — Despite the near-term shakeup caused by a bank failure and broader economic pressures, investors expect funding of space companies to rebound in 2023. Speaking on a panel at the Satellite 2023 conference here March 13, Mark Boggett, chief executive of Seraphim Space, said that his fund estimated investment in the industry dropped by 25% in 2022 over 2021, but that funding would return to 2021 levels this year. “Despite where we are with the macroeconomic environment, my expectation is that we will be back up to 2021 levels this year,” he said. Seraphim found that $12.1 billion was invested in the space sector in 2021 — a record — versus $8.9 billion in 2022. Boggett said that resurgence came from several factors including growing military spending that creates...

You’ve marked your calendar. You’ve got your tickets. You might have even scoped out our menu of space-inspired food. But are you wondering what to do at the festival? Whether it’s your first visit to Space Center Houston or your hundredth, our festival-exclusive experiences offer out-of-this-world fun for everyone. Our Moon 2 Mars Festival, presented by Wellby Financial, kicks off its second year Saturday, March 11 and runs through Sunday, March 19, with live music performances March 16 through March 19. The festival celebrates NASA’s Artemis program that will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, using innovative technologies to build a permanent presence on the lunar surface. With so much to see and do, we’ve created this handy guide to highlight the fes...

A bright meteor flew through the skies over northern Utah on Saturday morning, later raining down meteorites over the Great Salt Lake. Residents of the Salt Lake City area were startled by loud booms at 8:30 a.m. MDT on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022. Eyewitnesses saw a fireball in the sky, 16 times brighter than the full Moon. GOES 17 Geostationary Lightning Mapper detection of the Aug. 13, 2022, fireball over northern Utah. Credits: NOAA Approximately 22,000 miles out in space, NOAA’s Geostationary Lightning Mappers (GLM) onboard the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) 17 and 18 detected the meteor, which was first seen 50 miles over West Valley City. However, it is difficult to pinpoint its exact trajectory. “Daytime fireballs are very tough to analyze,” said Bill Cook...

We launched our Spitzer Space Telescope into orbit around the Sunday on Aug. 25, 2003. Since then, the observatory has been lifting the veil on the wonders of the cosmos, from our own solar system to faraway galaxies, using infrared light.Thanks to Spitzer, scientists were able to confirm the presence of seven rocky, Earth-size planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. The telescope has also provided weather maps of hot, gaseous exoplanets and revealed a hidden ring around Saturn. It has illuminated hidden collections of dust in a wide variety of locations, including cosmic nebulas (clouds of gas and dust in space), where young stars form, and swirling galaxies. Spitzer has additionally investigated some of the universe’s oldest galaxies and stared at the black hole at the center of the Milky Way....

SAN FRANCISCO — CesiumAstro won a $5 million contract from the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency to develop active electronically scanned array antennas compatible with the Link 16 tactical data network. The Austin-based startup specializing in phased array technology announced the award March 2. “Once completed, this antenna will be the only multi-beam, active phased array Link 16 solution available to support U.S. and allied military forces’ common operating picture across the global battlespace, a true gamechanger for the future of reliable and vast data transfer in high-threat environments,” according to the CesiumAstro news release. CesiumAstro’s flat panel active electronically scanned array antennas employ multiple beams to connect satellites with “dispersed users...