Science

SAN FRANCISCO – L3Harris Technologies will help the U.S. Defense Defense extract information and insight from satellite and airborne imagery under a three-year U.S. Army Research Laboratory contract. L3Harris will develop and demonstrate an artificial intelligence-machine learning interface for Defense Department applications under the multimillion-dollar contract announced Oct. 26. “L3Harris will assist the Department of

WASHINGTON — A critical test of the core stage of the Space Launch System is facing another delay, this time because of a combination of weather and technical issues that may push back the test to the end of the year. NASA announced late Nov. 6 that it was delaying the final phases of the

Airbus U.S. Space and Defense filed its protest Oct. 28. Raytheon’s protest was filed Nov. 3. WASHINGTON — Airbus and Raytheon have filed protests with the Government Accountability Office challenging Space Development Agency contracts awarded to L3Harris and SpaceX last month for eight missile-tracking satellites, putting the projects on hold until the dispute is resolved.

WASHINGTON — A key senator says she will continue to push for passage during a lame-duck session of a NASA authorization bill that supports the Artemis lunar exploration program, but not necessarily the agency’s goal of return humans to the moon by 2024. In a talk Nov. 6 at a conference organized by the University

SAN FRANCISCO – Maxar Technologies plans to launch its first two WorldView Legion satellites as early as September 2021 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. “We continue to make progress on the integration, assembly and test of all six spacecraft and instruments, and we expect to go into

HELSINKI — The Indian Space Research Organisation successfully carried out its first launch since the COVID-19 outbreak Saturday sending the EOS-1 Earth observation satellite and nine smaller payloads into orbit. Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C49 (PSLV-C49) lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on the Indian island of Sriharikota at 4:42 a.m. Eastern Nov. 7

HELSINKI — Chinese rocket firm Galactic Energy successfully sent a small satellite into orbit Saturday with the first launch of its Ceres-1 launch vehicle. The Ceres-1 four-stage solid rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near the Gobi Desert at 2:12 a.m. Eastern Saturday. First indications of launch came from spectators posting footage

The new generation of military GPS circuit cards are low power and about the size of a silver dollar. WASHINGTON — Raytheon Technologies, L3Harris’ Interstate Electronics Corp. and BAE Systems collectively received $552.5 million in contracts to develop and produce integrated circuit cards for military GPS receivers. The contracts announced Nov. 6 by the U.S.

HELSINKI — China’s main space contractor is developing launch vehicles capable of learning and adapting as well as multiple technologies for recovering and reusing rockets. China will develop a first launch vehicle capable of vertical takeoff, vertical landing by 2025, Wu Yansheng, a senior official with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), said

WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic executives said Nov. 5 that the company is ready to begin a final series of test flights of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle as the company attempts to move into commercial operations in 2021. In its release of its third quarter financial results and accompanying earnings call, the company said it is

WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab will try to recover the first stage of its Electron rocket on its next launch as the company continues its efforts to reuse that stage. The company announced Nov. 5 that its next Electron launch, scheduled for Nov. 15 (U.S. time) from New Zealand, will include the first attempt by the

The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate will use the new facility to test advanced composite materials and structures. WASHINGTON — The Air Force Research Laboratory is opening a $4 million facility focused on spacecraft component testing, AFRL announced Nov. 3. The so-called Deployable structures Laboratory will be part of AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate.

WASHINGTON — A new “national initiative” wants to promote the development of satellite servicing and in-space assembly technologies among U.S. government agencies that have differing views on the value of such capabilities. The On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (OSAM) National Initiative is intended to exchange information and establish partnerships among government agencies, and with industry

WASHINGTON — Former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly won his race for the U.S. Senate in Arizona Nov. 3 while two members of Congress involved in space issues lost their bids for reelection. Kelly, a Democrat, defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Martha McSally by a margin of 52.6% to 47.4%, according to results published by the Arizona

WASHINGTON — NASA is delaying the launch of an ocean science satellite on one Falcon 9 rocket, but says that delay will not affect another Falcon 9 launch of a commercial crew mission. The agency announced Nov. 3 it was delaying the launch of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite on a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg

SAN FRANCISCO – Frontier Aerospace, a small Simi Valley, California, company, has completed the design of attitude control thrusters developed with NASA and Astrobotic Technologies for deep space missions. “We are well on our way to qualifying both 150 and 10 [pounds of thrust] engines for Astrobotic’s near-term Peregrine lunar lander mission,” Frontier Aerospace announced

WASHINGTON — Vector, a small launch vehicle developer that went bankrupt in 2019, is getting a second chance under new ownership, with changes to both its technology and initial markets. Vector has raised more than $100 million to develop a family of small launch vehicles, but suspended operations in August 2019 and laid off most

SAN FRANCISCO – Spacebit is inviting university researchers to share data the London-based company plans to obtain from two miniature rovers scheduled to travel to the moon with Astrobotic Technology and Intuitive Machines in 2021. Spacebit’s sensor-laden rovers are designed to transmit data through the Astrobotic and Intuitive Machine landers to the company’s mission control

Dickinson: “We have to ensure that we have a safe domain in which to operate.” WASHINGTON — It may come as a surprise to some that the nation’s top commander of U.S. space forces is not a member of the U.S. Space Force but a four-star U.S. Army general. Gen. James Dickinson is the commander

Twenty years ago, the joint U.S.-Russia space mission Expedition 1 docked with the first modules of the International Space Station (International Space Station). An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts arrived to, in effect, bring the station to life. They turned on the lights, unpacked the boxes, and set up the kitchen. Over 136 days

U.S. investment in commercial geoint has been relatively flat over the last five years WASHINGTON — A new study by the MITRE Corp. says the U.S. commercial geospatial intelligence industry is being outpaced by foreign competitors and the U.S. government could do more to help. U.S. investment in commercial geoint has been relatively flat over

SAN FRANCISCO – NXT Communications Corp. (NXTCOMM) announced plans Oct. 28 to begin demonstrating the performance of its electronically steered antenna through leased capacity on a Eutelsat Communications satellite. Atlanta-based NXTCOMM unveiled its electronically steered antenna in June, which it considers a building block for a family of satellite antennas for mobile connectivity. Specifically, NXTCOMM

WASHINGTON — Virgin Orbit plans to invest in Sky and Space Global (SAS), the financially troubled satellite constellation company, and partner with it on launch and satellite services. In an Oct. 28 statement, SAS said that Virgin Orbit will take a stake of no less than 14.7% in the company by purchasing shares in the

HELSINKI — China has outlined a proposed architecture for getting astronauts to the moon and back as part of plans for long-term lunar exploration. A presentation at the 2020 China Space Conference in September details infrastructure including a new launch vehicle, new-generation spacecraft and a lunar lander, along with a potential lunar orbit module and

WASHINGTON — While NASA and the European Space Agency hailed an agreement this week to work together on the lunar Gateway, both agencies have work ahead to establish international cooperation on the overall Artemis program of human lunar exploration. NASA and ESA announced Oct. 27 that they had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to

In a memo Oct. 29, Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist said the new position will be filled by Justin Johnson, the acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy.  WASHINGTON — The Defense Department announced Oct. 30 it has established the office of the assistant secretary of defense for space policy, a new

WASHINGTON — The commercial space industry hopes to continue recent progress in regulatory reform even if there is a new president or a change in party control in Congress after the election. The last six months have seen two major milestones in government regulation of commercial space activities: the publication of revised commercial remote sensing

WASHINGTON — NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has secured material it collected from the asteroid Bennu into a sample return capsule, a process the mission accelerated after images showed material leaking into space. At an Oct. 29 briefing, project officials said they had stowed a sample collection device called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) into a

SAN FRANCISCO – Canadian satellite fleet operator Telesat is in advanced discussions with vendors seeking to build and launch satellites for its multibillion dollar, 298-satellite Telesat LEO constellation. “My expectation is that we’d be in a position to make some announcements about who those vendors are by the end of this year,” Telesat CEO Dan

SAN FRANCISCO – Finnish radar satellite operator Iceye announced Oct. 29 that Jerry Welsh, Iceye chief operating officer and chief financial officer, is taking the helm of Iceye US as the company prepares to begin manufacturing satellites in the United States. “We are now focused on moving to the next phase, which includes making a