Latest news with #spaceRace
ABC News
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
The Lingerie Makers who put Neil Armstrong on the Moon
You can probably picture that iconic moment, when Neil Armstrong first walked on the moon. But what if his 'one small step for man' was actually thanks to a group of unlikely women? In the 1960's when President JFK accelerated the space race, NASA needed someone to design a spacesuit capable of putting man on the moon. When the big defense contractors failed to meet the challenge, NASA had no choice but to work with the only company up to the job: Playtex - manufacturers of women's girdles and bras. The UK's best selling historian under 40 Kassia St Clair tells host Marc Fennell (Stuff the British Stole, Mastermind) the incredible true story of the unsung heroes of the space race: the seamstresses who painstakingly sewed the Apollo 11 spacesuits. Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at noonesawitcoming@
South China Morning Post
07-07-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
China is making rapid gains in space tech. Here's how the military could use it
The new space race is heating up, with the United States warning that its major rival China is narrowing the gap as it makes rapid technology gains. While China says its ambitious plans remain peaceful and that it rejects the weaponisation of space , some of the technologies it has developed in recent years also have military uses. Here are some of them. BeiDou network The Chinese navigation satellite system provides positioning, navigation and timing services worldwide. Its network of 60 satellites has been in full global operation since 2020, with the final backup satellites launched in 2024. BeiDou – a symbol of China's growing tech self-sufficiency – aims to challenge the dominance of GPS, the global positioning system run by the US military, especially in Belt and Road Initiative countries. Besides its civilian applications, BeiDou provides navigation and positioning services to all branches of the Chinese military with even higher precision in the Asia-Pacific than GPS offers the US military. That enables independent guidance for Chinese missiles, bombs and other precision munitions, with high accuracy. The People's Liberation Army can also use BeiDou's short messaging function to communicate.
Entrepreneur
02-07-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
India Must Build Space Tech Muscle to Avoid New-Age Colonization: Former ISRO Chief AS Kiran
The country is now home to more than 100 space-tech startups, most of which were founded in the last 5 years. The global space technology startup stage experienced a slowdown, while the Indian counterparts enjoyed a healthy upward funding trend. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. India should start enabling its competence, both for survival and being one among the equals in the modern space race, to not get into another "colonization" situation, said AS Kiran Kumar, Former chairperson of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), speaking to Entrepreneur India. "Space is a new frontier, and human systems always look at any new capability to take advantage of that and dominate and impose themselves. So if you don't want to get imposed and get into another type of colonization, there is no option but to build your competence. And India has shown that it is capable of doing so. As these resources and your economic strength continue to increase, if you stay behind, you'll run into another kind of colonization," said Kumar. The country is now home to more than 100 space-tech startups, most of which were founded in the last 5 years. The global space technology startup stage experienced a slowdown, while the Indian counterparts enjoyed a healthy upward funding trend. A Tracxn report reveals that 2023 served as the year with the highest funds pouring in, totalling USD 126 Million, which is a 7 per cent increase from 2022, and a whopping 235 per cent increase compared to 2021. Early-stage startups attracted the majority of the available funds with USD 120 million. Seed-stage funding saw a growth of 24 per cent in 2023 with USD 5.3 Million, and in 2024 saw USD 2.29 Million invested in seed-stage rounds so far. "Startups in the space segment are very tough," Kumar said, emphasizing that transforming an idea into a viable revenue model in this field comes with immense technical and financial challenges. The space sector, he explained, has "very low tolerance for failure," making it historically the domain of nation-states. However, the environment is shifting. Governments are now "enabling private entities to participate by reducing the risk," said Kumar, adding that this support often includes consumption guarantees and service commitments that help private ventures gain a foothold. Startups today are increasingly shifting toward service-based models such as "launch as a service" and "satellite as a service," which allow companies to leverage existing infrastructure rather than build from scratch. "Earlier, the problem was if you have an idea... the entire process of building it, launching it, maintaining it is a huge infrastructure. Now those mechanisms are getting decoupled," he noted. Kumar also pointed out emerging opportunities in satellite waste management, or as he called it, "waste to wealth services," which could become a significant vertical as more satellites enter orbit. Speaking about new frontiers, the Indian startup ecosystem is brimming with potential, especially in deep tech and frontier technology. Rohan Choukkar, VP of Investments at Bharat Innovation Fund (BIF), said that India can lead in these sectors globally. "Deep tech and frontier tech don't exist in a vacuum. It comes from the existing technology, economic, and engineering base that a country has built over decades. For example, India has built real depth in chemistry. That plays out not just in pharma but in batteries, specialty chemicals, and materials innovation. We're seeing a lot of action in battery materials and novel chemical formulations, those that leverage the chemistry muscle India has built over generations," said Choukkar. Choukkar also added that there are semiconductors and electronics. "India has historically been a base for global semiconductor companies. Bangalore is full of large global players who have major engineering teams here. The talent that's come out of these companies is now going on to build next-generation solutions in semiconductors, defense electronics, and more."
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Honda Now Makes VTOL Rockets and Early Tests Are Encouraging
If we needed any further indication that the 21st-century space race is heating up, Japanese car maker Honda has thrown its hat in the ring with a successful test of a reusable first-stage rocket. Said to have been under development for at least six years, the rocket flew to a height of 900 feet before returning carefully and safely to the launch pad, completely intact. Although the space shuttle pioneered the idea of reusable launch vehicles in the 1970s, it was only in the 2000s and 2010s that the idea really took off. The SpaceX Falcon 9 became the first commercial launch vehicle to nail the reusable first-stage concept, but others have followed in its wake, and many more are expected from US and Chinese aerospace firms in the 2020s. Honda just demonstrated the first potential Japanese launch vehicle that could do much the same. In this test, Honda launched a small rocket, measuring just 21 feet tall and 2.8 feet in diameter, weighing just under 2,900 pounds when fully fuelled up. The rocket took off from its launch pedestal, retracting its landing legs in the process. It then flew carefully to its intended height of around 900 feet before extending fins similar to those of the Falcon 9 and performing a controlled descent. It touched back down within just a few inches of its intended target, according to Honda. The flight lasted just under a minute. Honda said that this test represented the successful deployment of "key technologies essential for rocket reusability, such as flight stability during ascent and descent, as well as landing capability." Honda has discussed its rocket efforts before. As Ars Technica points out, in 2021 it said it had been working on a small launch vehicle for the previous two years and hoped to develope a reusable rocket design that could take a metric ton of payload into orbit. Honda hasn't suggested whether this rocket is the prototype for that design or just a way to test key technologies. It has previously said it would work on rocketry until 2025/2026 and then make a decision on whether to continue, so this test may have been an important indicator of Honda's future plans. "In this market environment, Honda has chosen to take on the technological challenge of developing reusable rockets by utilizing Honda technologies amassed in the development of various products and automated driving systems, based on a belief that reusable rockets will contribute to achieving sustainable transportation," Honda said in a statement.
Al Jazeera
12-06-2025
- Science
- Al Jazeera
How will the space race affect our environment?
In recognition of World Environment Day, we examine the environmental toll of the new space race and what's at stake as climate change accelerates here on Earth. Billionaires are racing to conquer the cosmos, launching hundreds of rockets yearly for exploration and profit. But the cost to our planet is mounting. Are we turning our backs on the planet we still call home? Presenter: Stefanie Dekker Guests: Eloise Marais – Professor of atmospheric chemistry and air quality, University College London Vishal Prasad – Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change Melanie Hamlett – Journalist and comedian
