Science

WASHINGTON — NASA should be able to set a new date for the Artemis 1 launch within a few weeks of the Green Run static-fire test of the Space Launch System core stage, assuming that test goes as expected. NASA is scheduled to conduct the static-fire test March 18 at the Stennis Space Center in

WASHINGTON — Aerojet Rocketdyne doesn’t expect any potential changes to the Artemis program to have much of an effect on its business supplying engines for NASA’s Space Launch System. Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Industrials Conference March 15, Dan Boehle, chief financial officer of Aerojet Rocketdyne, played down any impacts of possible changes to the

Gen. David Thompson: “The more we can depend on commercial space for routine activities like transportation and debris removal, the more we can focus on national security.” WASHINGTON — Vice Chief of Space Operations of the U.S. Space Force Gen. David Thompson said it would make sense for the government to pay companies to clean

Todd Harrison: “I don’t think the Space Force will end up being an area that progressive Democrats want to cut.” WASHINGTON — A March 16 letter signed by 50 House Democrats urges President Joe Biden to reduce the Pentagon’s budget to pay for other activities.  The letter is intended to influence the president’s budget proposal

WASHINGTON — Loft Orbital is buying antennas for an upcoming mission from French provider Anywaves, a deal the companies see as a sign of a growing European ecosystem of space startups. Anywaves announced March 16 it sold two S-band antennas to Loft Orbital, which will install them on its YAM-3 spacecraft launching in June on

WASHINGTON — A NASA astronaut flying to the International Space Station in April could spend up to a year on the station, an extended stay that he said he was “enthusiastic” about. NASA announced March 9 that Mark Vande Hei would fly on the Soyuz MS-18 mission to the space station, launching April 9. He

Before returning to DARPA, Tompkins was vice president for research and technology transfer at the Colorado School of Mines. WASHINGTON — Stefanie Tompkins on March 15 assumed the top post at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Tompkins is DARPA’s 23rd director. She is a former military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army and previously

WASHINGTON — Three space industry groups are asking the Commerce Department to commit to continued support and funding for the Office of Space Commerce. In a March 9 letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the Aerospace Industries Association, Commercial Spaceflight Federation and Satellite Industry Association called for the department to fund the small office at

WASHINGTON — A Falcon 9 launched another set of Starlink satellites March 14, with the rocket’s first stage setting a record with its ninth launch and landing. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 6:01 a.m. Eastern. The upper stage deployed its payload of 60 Starlink satellites

As the first flight of Artemis moves ever closer from Kennedy Space Center, critics continue to raise questions around the cost of the U.S. return to the moon by pointing to private sector alternatives as more expeditious and less resource intensive. Somehow lost in this critique is that the private sector is, in fact, the

For many companies in the industry, filling job openings can seem as difficult as rocket science. For others, it simply involves rockets. SpaceX often uses its launch webcasts as recruiting tools, taking advantage of an audience of thousands who will tune in at all hours to see a rocket launch and landing. Webcasts hosts will

HELSINKI — China launched a new-generation Long March 7A rocket Thursday, sending a classified, experimental payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit. Liftoff from the coastal Wenchang Satellite Launch Center occurred at 12:51 p.m. Eastern March 11. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), the country’s main space contractor, confirmed launch success 40 minutes later (Chinese).

SEAKR, based in Centennial, Colorado, is developing the artificial brain of DARPA’s Blackjack satellite network. WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced March 12 it awarded SEAKR Engineering a $60.4 million contract to develop a data processing system for satellites to operate autonomously.   SEAKR, based in Centennial, Colorado, was selected by DARPA

SAN FRANCISCO – Radar satellite startup Umbra plans to capture imagery with a resolution as high as 15 centimeters per pixel thanks to a Federal Communications Commission license. The FCC granted Umbra, a Santa Barbara, California, startup preparing to launch its first X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) microsatellite this year, an experimental license in February

WASHINGTON — NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope resumed observations March 11 after a software error placed it in a protective safe mode several days earlier, but the incident is a reminder of the telescope’s mortality. NASA said Hubble resumed observations at 8 p.m. Eastern March 11, more than four and a half days after a software

‘We’re trying to figure out how to monetize and operationalize all of this data,’ said Matthew Tirman, head of Satellogic North America. WASHINGTON — Earth observation company Satellogic is expanding its presence in the United States to compete in the government market. It is standing up a U.S. subsidiary specifically to work with national security

TAMPA, Fla. — Satellite communications provider Speedcast emerged Thursday from nearly a year in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under private equity ownership. Centerbridge Partners, which manages about $28 billion of assets, has officially taken ownership of the company after completing all necessary regulatory and administrative requirements. The private equity firm invested $500 million into Speedcast

Kurs Orbital plans to focus on servicing commercial geostationary satellites WASHINGTON — A Ukrainian startup is building an in-orbit servicing vehicle using space docking technology developed decades ago by the former Soviet Union.  The startup, named Kurs Orbital, was co-founded by the former head of Ukraine’s space agency Volodymyr Usov. The company plans to launch

TAMPA, Fla. — Northrop Grumman’s MEV-2 satellite servicer is performing close proximity operations with Intelsat’s in-orbit 10-02 spacecraft ahead of a docking attempt, SpaceNews has learned. Both spacecraft remain healthy after being in close quarters to calibrate and test systems before MEV-2 backed off, according to a Northrop Grumman official. The company intends to release

WASHINGTON — NASA has signed an agreement with Blue Origin to use that company’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle for flights that will simulate the reduced gravity on the surface of the moon. NASA said March 9 that it is supporting upgrades to New Shepard to allow the vehicle to briefly similar lunar gravity on its

WASHINGTON — A NASA astronaut will fly on a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station in April, as the agency confirmed a peculiar arrangement for obtaining a seat on the Russian spacecraft. NASA said March 9 that Mark Vande Hei will join the crew of the Soyuz MS-18 mission to the station, launching April

A volcanologist travels to and descends down the rim of a caldera. A geophysicist travels to and scales a glacier to drill samples. Scientists travel and work across Antarctica. A scientist studying phenomena of liquids and gases for use in the weightlessness of spaceflight sits on the ground. Play the child’s riddle: which one of

HELSINKI — China has quietly rolled a new-generation Long March 7A rocket at Wenchang ahead of a launch in the coming days. The 60-meter-long kerosene-liquid oxygen fueled Long March 7A was rolled out late March 7 Eastern. Launch could take place as soon as late March 10 Eastern from the coastal Wenchang launch center. The

WASHINGTON — Proponents of a proposed Georgia launch site remain optimistic they will win approval from the Federal Aviation Administration despite another delay in the environmental review process. The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation informed stakeholders in the ongoing assessment of Spaceport Camden in Camden County, Georgia, March 5 that a final version of

Is NASA’s ISS price hike a conspiracy to kill entrepreneurial space? I am not into conspiracies. Kennedy was shot by a lone gunman. The World Trade Center was taken down by terrorists. And yes, we really did go to the moon. However, the recent move by NASA to essentially gut private sector activities on the

Reps. Frank Lucas and Brian Babin, who oversee civil and commercial space, expressed concerns about the administration’s push for international regulation of space activities. WASHINGTON — The top House Republicans on the committee that oversees civil and commercial space are asking the Biden administration to update lawmakers on its plans regarding space security and space

WASHINGTON — NASA’s Perseverance rover has started moving on the Martian surface as project scientists prepare to send the rover toward the remnants of a river delta in search of signs of past life. At a March 5 press briefing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, project officials said that the rover made its first movements

SEOUL, South Korea — Kencoa Aerospace Corp., a South Korean aircraft assembler and parts supplier that has NASA, SpaceX and Blue Origin as clients, is planning to expand its U.S. parts manufacturing plant in Georgia. The company raised 30 billion won ($26.6 million) in February by issuing convertible bonds to domestic institutional investors and will

Updated March 5 with NASA comment. WASHINGTON — NASA has sharply increased the prices it charges commercial users of the International Space Station for cargo and other resources, a move that has left some companies confused and frustrated. NASA announced Feb. 25 that it was revising the commercial marketing pricing policy it first published in