In this episode of Space Minds, Mike Gruss talks with Kymeta’s Ryan Stevenson. They discuss the benefits and challenges of multi-orbit and multi-band connectivity in a single terminal. About Space Minds Space Minds is a new audio and video podcast from SpaceNews that focuses on the inspiring leaders, technologies and exciting opportunities in space. The…

Back to Article List Today in the history of astronomy, satellites Vela 3 and 4 make the first detection of gamma-ray bursts. Vela 4 was actually two separate satellites made up of nine instruments. It launched in April 1967. Credit: energy.gov/Wikimedia On July 2, 1967, the U.S.’s Vela 3 and 4 satellites, originally launched to…

Imagine if one company could become the railroad, electric utility and cloud-computing provider of the emerging space economy. That potential fueled excitement around the long-anticipated initial public offering of SpaceX. Investors are not simply betting on rockets anymore. They are betting on an entire orbital ecosystem. Among the most ambitious and challenging ideas riding this…

The bill also takes a measured step toward addressing NASA’s workforce crisis. The report supports the new “NASA Force” effort to rebuild the agency’s core competencies, language that amounts to an acknowledgment that 2025 was a damaging year for NASA. More than 4,000 civil servants were pressured to leave during the leadership vacuum that preceded…

Astronaut Mark Watney is stranded on Mars and must somehow find a way to grow potatoes in the planet’s unforgiving, ochre soil before he starves. This is the plot of The Martian, which is very much a work of fiction. But for a real-life space botanist, look no further than Jessica Atkin. Her skills might…