Barrett: Over the past several months “there’s been a big mindset change.” WASHINGTON — The Space Force has been the subject of snark since it was first proposed. But the naysayers are coming around, Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said Oct. 28. “A year ago Space Force was an idea that was mocked,” Barrett said
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SAN FRANCISCO — Launchspace Technologies Corp. announced a contract Oct. 28 with Airbus to test its Orbital Debris Collection and Spacecraft Shielding payload for 12 months on the International Space Station Bartolomeo platform. For the test scheduled to begin in 2022, Launchspace plans to gather data from the Bartolomeo platform with Debris Impact Pads equipped
WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission approved the sale of OneWeb to the British government and Bharti Global Oct. 27, as rival SpaceX started a public beta test of its Starlink system. In a public notice, the FCC announced it has approved the transfer of OneWeb’s satellite and ground station licenses to its new owners
SAN FRANCISCO – The Aerospace Corp. is calling for the U.S. government to work with industry and international partners to develop space solar power technologies. The concept of space solar power “evolved over a very long time and is probably a couple of generations away from being hooked into the terrestrial power grid,” James Vedda,
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai talks orbital debris rules, megaconstellations, C-band auction, Ligado and more with SpaceNews. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s recent run of space-related regulatory actions has earned the agency both praise and scorn from the space industry. Streamlined licensing procedures adopted earlier this year promise to make it cheaper for smallsat
The $10 million five-year contract is for professional services for the Peterson-Schriever Garrison in Colorado Springs. WASHINGTON — Peraton received a $10 million five-year contract extension from the U.S. Space Force for orbital analysis services, the company announced Oct. 26. The contract is for professional services for the Peterson-Schriever Garrison, a Space Force unit in
HELSINKI — China launched a seventh group of Yaogan-30 reconnaissance satellites Oct. 26, marking the country’s 31st launch of 2020. A Long March 2C rocket lifted off from LC-3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 11:19 a.m. Eastern Monday carrying three Yaogan satellites and one smaller commercial payload. The China Aerospace Science and Technology
WASHINGTON — More than two years after Lockheed Martin announced it would be one of the first customers of a proposed spaceport in Scotland, the company has decided to move to another proposed spaceport there. The U.K. Space Agency announced Oct. 22 that it backed a proposal by the company to shift its planned U.K.
SAN FRANCISCO — Two years after acquiring mobile satellite services provider Thuraya Telecommunications, Emerati fleet operator Yahsat is prepared to begin updating its L-band fleet. In August, Yahsat announced a contract with Airbus Defence and Space for Thuraya-4 NGS that includes an option for a second identical satellite, Thuraya-5 NGS. Yahsat plans to spend approximately
Tranche 1 is envisioned to have about 100 to 150 space vehicles, developed and manufactured by multiple vendors. WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency in recent months acquired 28 satellites that it plans to launch in 2022. It is now preparing for its next big procurement of up to 150 satellites to be launched in
SAN FRANCISCO – An international consortium plans to launch a hyperspectral camera built by South Africa’s Dragonfly Aerospace on a NanoAvionics rideshare mission scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2021. The mission, called HyperActive, is designed to demonstrate the performance of Dragonfly’s miniature hyperspectral imager plus a high-gain X-band antenna and
WASHINGTON — Intelsat rejected a $1.8 billion claim filed by SES regarding the breakup of the C-Band Alliance, arguing instead that SES’s action cost Intelsat more than $1.6 billion in potential C-band clearing payments. SES filed the claim in July in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, where Intelsat filed for Chapter
WASHINGTON — SpaceX launched another set of Starlink satellites Oct. 24, marking the 100th time the company has placed payloads into orbit. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 11:31 a.m. Eastern. The rocket’s upper stage deployed the payload of 60 Starlink satellites into
WASHINGTON — Axiom Space hopes to soon finalize its first commercial mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for late 2021, as it continues development of a commercial module for the station. During a panel discussion at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) Oct. 13, Michael Suffredini, president and chief executive of Axiom Space, said his
WASHINGTON — NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft collected so much material from the surface of the asteroid Bennu that the lid of its sampling head is jammed open, causing material to leak out and changing the agency’s plans for the mission. At a media briefing called by NASA on short notice Oct. 23, three days after the
HELSINKI — Two young Chinese rocket have secured deals with local governments for the establishment of major launch vehicle research and production facilities. The agreements made in September demonstrate ongoing and deepening support of commercial space endeavors by Chinese provincial and local governments. Beijing-based Galactic Energy will construct a base in Jianyang, a county-level city
The recent streak of launch scrubs proves that systems are working like they should, said Col. Douglas Pentecost. WASHINGTON — A streak of United Launch Alliance and SpaceX launch scrubs has frustrated rocket company executives and space aficionados. But Space Force launch managers are not discouraged, and in fact see scrubs as proof that systems
WASHINGTON — Small launch vehicle developer ABL Space Systems announced Oct. 22 that it has started a series of static-fire tests of the upper stage of its vehicle, putting the company on track for a first launch in 2021. The company said it performed integrated stage testing of the upper stage of its RS1 vehicle
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee introduced a bill Oct. 21 to formally give the Commerce Department space traffic management (STM) responsibilities, but the funding required to carry out that work remains uncertain. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) announced he had introduced the Space Preservation and Conjunction Emergency, or SPACE, Act, a bill
WASHINGTON — The leaders of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission are confident that the spacecraft collected material from the surface of the asteroid Bennu during a touch-and-go (TAG) maneuver Oct. 20. At an Oct. 21 briefing nearly 24 hours after the spacecraft’s brief touchdown on the asteroid, project officials and NASA leadership said images taken by OSIRIS-REx
VALLETTA, Malta — The Swedish government has committed to investing 90 million krona ($10.2 million) over the next three years to upgrade the Esrange Space Center to host small satellite launches starting in 2022. This fresh round of funding comes just two years after the government invested 60 million krona to outfit the suborbital rocket
The Space Operations Command, or SpOC, will be led by Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force on Oct. 21 is standing up its first field command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. The Space Operations Command, or SpOC, will be led by Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting. He will officially assume command
Lockheed CFO: “We now have a price point that will allow ULA to get its fair share of awards over SpaceX.” WASHINGTON — United Launch Alliance has seen its business threatened by the industry’s increasingly dominant player SpaceX. But ULA has been able to fight back and stay competitive, Lockheed Martin executives said Oct. 20
SpaceX will use Microsoft Azure’s orbital emulator — a digital environment that allows the user to visualize an entire satellite architecture, test satellite designs and artificial intelligence algorithms. WASHINGTON — SpaceX earlier this month won a $149 million contract from the Defense Department’s Space Development Agency to build four satellites to detect and track ballistic and
“We’re discussing with the Air Force the path forward for certification,” said Megan Mitchell, Blue Origin’s director of government and legislative affairs. WASHINGTON — The Air Force in August selected United Launch Alliance and SpaceX as its launch providers for the next five years. Blue Origin competed for the job but lost and, as a
HELSINKI — Chinese large state-owned enterprise CASIC laid out a new set of commercial space plans for the next five years at a conference Monday. The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. (CASIC) outlined plans for developing launch services, satellite constellations and a reusable spaceplane at the 6th China International Commercial Aerospace Forum, which opened
WASHINGTON — A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched another set of Starlink satellites Oct. 18 as the investigation into another Falcon 9 launch abort more than two weeks ago continues. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 8:25 a.m. Eastern. The rocket’s upper stage deployed the payload of
WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency has awarded contracts for work on elements of its moon and Mars exploration program, ranging from modules for the lunar Gateway to a mission to return Mars samples to Earth. ESA’s announcement of the contracts was tied to an Oct. 14 session of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), where
WASHINGTON — NASA has awarded more than $400 million in contracts to both demonstrate technologies needed for future lunar exploration and to send an ice-drilling payload to the south pole of the moon. NASA announced Oct. 16 that it awarded a task order worth $47 million to Intuitive Machines, one of 14 companies in the
SAN FRANCISCO — AAC Clyde Space announced plans Oct. 15 to acquire SpaceQuest, a satellite technology developer based in Fairfax, Virginia, for $8.4 million, pending the approval of shareholders and the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Luis Gomes, AAC Clyde Space CEO, and Craig Clark, AAC Clyde Space chief strategy officer,