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[ad_1] Varda's first manufacturing satellite and reentry vehicle attached to a Rocket Lab Photon bus. Rocket Lab Space startup Varda received long-awaited approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to bring its first spacecraft back to earth after a stint manufacturing drugs in space. Varda's small W-Series 1 capsule, or W-1, has been stuck in orbit since it launched eight months ago. The company has awaited regulatory authorization to make a landing attempt in Utah, at the Air Force's Utah Test and Training Range. The FAA confirmed on Wednesday it had issued the license to Varda. The FAA's approval means Varda will try to land the W-1 mission on Feb. 21. "We are incredibly proud to have this opportunity with our government partners, and appreciate their dedication to safe innovation in the United States," Varda said in a statement. The W-1 mission is a demonstration of the company's automated in-space manufacturing process. Last year, Varda ...

[ad_1] A rendering of Telesat's low earth orbit broadband constellation Telesat Shares of Canadian telecommunications satellite operator Telesat surged on Friday after the company announced it would swap suppliers for its planned Lightspeed global internet network. Canadian space company MDA will now build the Lightspeed satellites, taking the place of French-Italian manufacturer Thales Alenia Space and resulting in "total capital cost savings" of about $2 billion, Telesat announced. The company expects to begin launching the first Lightspeed satellites in mid-2026, with global service beginning once the first 156 satellites are in orbit. The full network is planned to consist of 198 satellites. Telesat stock surged as much as much as 64% with heavy volume in early trading from its previous close at $8.45 a share, before slipping slightly to closer to 50%. "I'm incredibly proud of the Telesat team for their innovative work to further optimize ... resulting ...

[ad_1] A Falcon Heavy rocket launches the USSF-67 mission on January 15, 2023 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX The U.S. military is raising the stakes — and widening the field — on a high-profile competition for Space Force mission contracts. The Space Force plans to buy even more rocket launches from companies in the coming years than previously expected, granting more companies a chance at securing billions in potential contracts. "This is a huge deal," Col. Doug Pentecost, the deputy program executive officer of the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command, told reporters during a briefing this week. Earlier this year the Space Force kicked off the process to buy five years' worth of launches, under a lucrative program known as National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3. Now it's boosting the scale. The U.S. sees a rising impetus to improve its military capabilities in space, spurring the need to almost triple the number of launch...

[ad_1] Viasat 's stock plummeted in trading on Thursday after the company disclosed its most recently launched communications satellite suffered a malfunction. The Carlsbad, California-based company on Wednesday said an "unexpected event occurred" while deploying the reflector of its Viasat-3 Americas satellite "that may materially impact" performance. The satellite launched successfully in April on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. "We're disappointed by the recent developments," Viasat CEO Mark Dankberg said in a statement. Shares of Viasat fell 28.5% on Thursday to close at $30.74 a share, its biggest one-day loss since going public in December 1996. Sign up here to receive weekly editions of CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter . Viasat did not disclose the identity of the reflector's manufacturer in its release. Dankberg said his company is "working closely" with the manufacturer to resolve the problem. A Viasat spokespe...