Space - GeekWire

Jeff Thornburg at Portal Space Systems with vacuum chamber

Uncommon Thinkers: How Portal’s Jeff Thornburg plans to harness the heat of the sun in the cold of space

Before he became the CEO of Portal Space Systems, Jeff Thornburg worked for two of the world’s most innovative space-minded billionaires. Now he’s working on an idea those billionaires never pursued: building a spacecraft powered by the heat of focused sunlight. Read More

Worker inspecting Amazon Leo antenna mounted on a building roof

Amazon Leo starts to roll out its fastest satellite internet service — and reveals just how fast it’ll be

The effort formerly known as Project Kuiper is shipping hardware to select business customers for testing, in a move that heightens competition with SpaceX’s Starlink. Read More

Illustration: New Glenn 9x4 rocket lifting off, with moon in the sky above

Blue Origin supersizes New Glenn rocket to send heavier payloads to Earth orbit and beyond

Jeff Bezos’ space venture ups the ante for launch industry by offering a bigger rocket with more engines Read More

Blue Origin New Glenn rocket rises from pad, as seen from above

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket launches twin probes on trip to Mars — and scores a booster touchdown

The trouble-free launch of NASA’s Escapade probes, plus today’s first-ever recovery of a New Glenn booster, bolstered Blue Origin’s status as a worthy competitor for Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has come to dominate the space industry. Read More

‘Project Kuiper’ no more: Amazon renames satellite internet venture ‘Leo’ on path to commercial debut

Amazon rebrands its effort to expand global access to high-speed internet: Project Kuiper will now be known as Amazon Leo Read More

Illustration showing Starburst (foreground) and Supernova (background) spacecraft in Earth orbit

Portal Space Systems introduces Starburst, a new breed of maneuverable spacecraft

Demonstration mission for orbit-shifting satellite platform set for late 2026 Read More

James Penna and Finn van Donkelaar stand beside a complicated-looking Jet Gun prototype in the back of a panel truck

Seattle Space Week offers tips for starry-eyed entrepreneurs — and a sneak peek at a hypersonic Jet Gun

Leaders of the Pacific Northwest’s space industry gather to discuss how far they’ve come — and how to go even farther. Read More

Illustration: Second stage of Stoke Space Nova rocket in orbit

Stoke Space raises a whopping $510M to accelerate work on its fully reusable Nova launch system

Stoke Space, one of the brightest stars of Seattle’s space industry, says its latest funding round has nearly doubled total capital raised. Read More

Stoke Space reportedly raising another massive round of funding for its Nova rocket program

The Seattle-area space venture will use the mega-funding round to get its fully reusable rocket off the ground, according to The Information. Read More

Jeff Bezos says orbital data centers will be the ‘next step’ for space ventures that make Earth better

What’s the next killer app for the final frontier? According to Jeff Bezos, it’s a future fleet of orbital data centers. Read More

Illustration: Oasis-1 satellite mapping the moon

Blue Origin and its partners in Luxembourg unveil Project Oasis to map lunar resources

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture says it’s working with partners in Luxembourg on a campaign called Project Oasis, which… Read More

Thruster glows during test in a vacuum chamber

Portal Space Systems brings its solar thermal propulsion system up to full power during test

Bothell, Wash.-based Portal Space Systems says it has successfully tested its solar thermal propulsion system at operational temperatures inside a… Read More

Blue Origin New Shepard rocket ship lifts off

Blue Origin reportedly plans to expand New Shepard suborbital space fleet and launch facilities

The executive in charge of Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital space program has laid out plans to scale up the… Read More

Sen. Maria Cantwell at congressional hearing

Sen. Maria Cantwell releases report citing NASA whistleblowers’ concerns about budget cuts

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., today released a report that quotes NASA whistleblowers as saying they’ve “already seen safety impacts”… Read More

Blended image of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos celebrating

The space race is tightening up for Blue Origin and SpaceX, and for America and China

A newly published book focuses on parallel space races involving Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, and America and China. Read More

NASA’s Laurel Edgar waving during introduction as NASA astronaut

NASA showcases its latest class of astronauts — including a geologist from the Seattle area

NASA has named the next 10 members of its astronaut corps, and one of those 10 is a geologist with… Read More

Illustration: VIPER rover and Blue Moon MK1 lunar lander on moon's surface

NASA puts in an order with Blue Origin to work on sending VIPER rover to moon’s south pole

NASA has selected Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture to help it resurrect a mission to send a robotic prospector… Read More

Illustration: Hubble Network satellite in Earth orbit

Hubble Network attracts $70M in fresh funding to scale up satellite Bluetooth network

Seattle-based Hubble Network says it has raised $70 million in additional investment to accelerate the growth of its satellite-powered Bluetooth… Read More

Illustration: Blue Origin's Blue Ring multi-mission platform in orbit

How AI and other trends in technology are starting to supercharge the space industry

Artificial intelligence and other technological trends are smoothing the way for commercial space ventures ranging from startups to multibillion-dollar companies. Read More

Hyperspectral view of North Korean coastal area

Xplore shows off a hyperspectral view of North Korea, captured by XCUBE-1 imaging satellite

Nine months after the launch of its first satellite, Bellevue, Wash.-based Xplore is sharing a hyperspectral view of North Korean… Read More

Screenshot showing downlink data speed on a dial

Amazon executives tout gigabit data speeds during test of Project Kuiper satellite network

Amazon executives are showing off evidence that the company’s Project Kuiper satellite constellation is capable of transmitting data at speeds… Read More

Seattle’s Allen Institute provides stem cells for historic experiments in space

Seattle’s Allen Institute will play a key role in a groundbreaking space mission this weekend. The Allen Institute for Cell… Read More

NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg in L3Harris / Aerojet Rocketdyne lab

NASA takes a trip to Seattle area to thank suppliers for work on the next moonshot

REDMOND, Wash. — The first crewed flight around the moon in more than 50 years is still months away, but… Read More

Illustration: Blue Origin Blue Ring space mobility platform in orbit

Blue Origin and five other companies study how orbital transfer vehicles can aid NASA

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture is among six companies that will be producing studies for NASA looking at low-cost… Read More

Illustration: Astrolab FLIP rover on moon with Interlune payload

Interlune will team up with Astrolab to send a camera to the moon for helium-3 survey

Seattle-based Interlune says it’s struck a deal with California-based Astrolab to send a multispectral camera to the moon to estimate… Read More

Crypto billionaire takes his $28M space trip with five others on Blue Origin’s rocket ship

Controversial crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun finally got his suborbital ride into space today from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture,… Read More

Illustration: Golden Dome concept, highlighting a web of satellite sensors and interception of incoming missile

Space entrepreneurs see defense projects as next frontier for funding and innovation

Will the Golden Dome be a golden opportunity for commercial space ventures? That may be a bit of an exaggeration.… Read More

Blue Origin sets the date for controversial crypto billionaire’s $28M trip to space

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture says it’ll launch crypto billionaire Justin Sun on a suborbital space trip on Sunday,… Read More

Illustration: Hubble Network satellite in orbit

Hubble Network launches Bluetooth satellite system for tracking your devices from orbit

A Seattle space startup called Hubble Network is unveiling a system that uses satellites and low-power Bluetooth signals to monitor… Read More

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with Project Kuiper satellites

Rivals team up: SpaceX sends 24 satellites into orbit for Amazon’s Project Kuiper

In a case of strange space bedfellows, SpaceX launched 24 satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation — which is competing… Read More

Category: Space