HELSINKI — Chinese Earth observation Gaofen-13 is on its way to a geostationary orbit after successful launch on a Long March 3B from Xichang Oct. 11. The Long March 3B lifted off from Xichang, southwest China at 12:57 p.m. Eastern. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) confirmed launch success just over an hour
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Slingshot received a $1 million Small Business Innovation Research contract and an additional $1 million from ATX Venture Partners WASHINGTON — Space startup Slingshot Aerospace announced Oct. 8 it has won a U.S. Space Force contract to develop an immersive simulation of the orbital environment. Military students will use the tool to learn the mechanics
WASHINGTON — NASA is delaying the launch of the first operational SpaceX commercial crew mission to the first half of November to provide more time to review a problem during a recent Falcon 9 launch attempt. NASA announced Oct. 10 the Crew-1 mission, which was scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 in the early
How NASA’s InVEST program is yielding big dividends for future Earth-observing missions For the last several years at the Small Satellite Conference, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has held a “Small Satellite Mission of the Year” competition. An AIAA committee gathers nominations for smallsats that have launched in the last year and
Maj. Gen. Kim Crider said space “will become the next front of the cyber conflict” WASHINGTON — As many as 1,000 enlisted personnel and 130 officers currently in Air Force cyber security jobs will be asked to join the U.S. Space Force, a senior official said Oct. 8. The selected airmen from cyber security career
SAN FRANCISCO – Exolaunch signed an agreement to secure rides for dozens of small satellites on SpaceX rideshare missions scheduled to launch later this year and in 2021. Under the agreement announced Oct. 8, Germany’s Exolaunch plans to integrate 30 U.S. and European cubesats and microsatellites on Falcon 9 rideshare flights to sun-synchronous orbit scheduled
WASHINGTON — Despite dire predictions just six months ago, space companies in general, and startups in particular, have survived the pandemic and its economic fallout in relatively good shape. In sessions at the three-day Satellite Innovation 2020 conference that concluded Oct. 8, executives and other industry observers concluded that the industry fared better than expected
VALLETTA, Malta — A solid rocket booster designed for Europe’s next-generation Ariane 6 and Vega C launch vehicles completed a third and final static fire test Oct 7. Developed by an ArianeGroup and Avio joint venture called Europropulsion, the P120C is a multipurpose solid rocket booster designed to be used as the first stage of
SAN FRANCISCO — GHGSat, the Canadian firm preparing to launch a constellation of methane-monitoring satellites, announced Oct. 8 that the sensor on its Iris satellite launched in early September detects methane emissions five times as well as Claire, its predecessor. GHGSat tested the Iris sensor by flying the satellite over a controlled methane release in
The $600 million WGS-11+ will join the WGS constellation that provides broadband communications to the U.S. military and allies. WASHINGTON — Boeing has been given the go-ahead to continue the development of a new satellite for the U.S. military’s Wideband Global Satcom constellation, the company announced Oct. 7. The new $600 million satellite, known as
WASHINGTON — A startup is using an initial round of funding to build up tools it believes will provide more accurate notifications of potential collisions for satellite operators. Kayhan Space, based in Boulder, Colorado, announced Oct. 6 it closed a $600,000 “pre-seed” round, led by an Atlanta-based venture capital firm, Overline. Other participants in the
WASHINGTON — Chris Ferguson, the former NASA astronaut who was to command the first crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle, has withdrawn from the mission for personal reasons, the company announced Oct. 7. Ferguson, who joined Boeing in 2011 after a NASA career that included commanding the final space shuttle mission, was
SAN FRANCISCO — Capella Space unveiled images Oct. 6 from Sequoia, the first of 36 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites the San Francisco startup plans to send into a constellation to collect global imagery with hourly updates. “When I started Capella Space in 2016, there were a number of European providers operating and building commercial
Space Development Agency constellations of cheaper mass-produced satellites create opportunities and risks for contractors WASHINGTON — The Space Development Agency is buying 20 communications satellites for about $14 million apiece, and eight missile-warning satellites for about $43 million per unit. These price points are unprecedented in Pentagon satellite programs and a sign that the military
WASHINGTON — As SpaceX launches a new batch of Starlink satellites, the company is quietly deorbiting the original set of satellites less than 18 months after launch. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 7:29 a.m. Eastern Oct. 6. The launch suffered a series of
The United States must work with long-time Arctic partners to increase vigilance in this increasingly vital region. China has published an Arctic strategy making clear the government’s desire to control infrastructure along Arctic routes. Geographically, the terrestrial Arctic region consists of the area north of the Arctic Circle, including the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas and
SAN FRANCISCO – Colorado startup ExoTerra Resources announced a NASA Small Business Innovative Research contract Oct. 5 to develop a solar electric upper stage to boost small satellites traveling on Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne beyond low Earth orbit. With ExoTerra’s Solar Electric Propulsion Upper Stage, LauncherOne customers could reach destinations including geostationary orbit, trans-lunar injection orbit,
SAN FRANCISCO – SkyWatch Space Applications, the Canadian startup whose EarthCache platform helps software developers embed geospatial data and imagery in applications, announced a partnership Oct. 5 with Picterra, a Swiss startup with a self-service platform to help customers autonomously extract information from aerial and satellite imagery. “One of the things that has been very
WASHINGTON — A NASA safety committee warned that the effort to return humans to the moon by 2024, coupled with uncertain funding, could lead to “engineering compromises” in the Artemis program. At an Oct. 1 meeting of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), members said “real physical risks” could emerge as NASA presses ahead with
WASHINGTON — A NASA safety panel said that while Boeing was making good progress on implementing changes to its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle, it had doubts that work could be done in time to allow another test flight this year. At an Oct. 1 meeting of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, committee member Donald
The judge said the Air Force’s actions were not arbitrary, capricious, or in violation of the law, and that SpaceX was not entitled to any relief in this action.” WASHINGTON — A California judge Oct. 2 officially ended SpaceX’s 18-month-long lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force. Following a Sept. 24 ruling denying SpaceX’s claim, the
SAN FRANCISCO – In-space transportation startup Momentus announced service agreements Oct. 2 with Australia’s Skykraft and French spacecraft engineering company Mecano ID. Santa, Clara, California-based Momentus revealed plans to deploy a pathfinder for Skykraft’s microsatellite constellation on a Vigoride flight in June 2021. Momentus plans to send the Skykraft microsatellite into orbit via EOS, a
WASHINGTON — A federal bankruptcy court approved Oct. 2 the sale of broadband megaconstellation company OneWeb to the British government and Indian telecommunications company Bharti Global. At a confirmation hearing in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, judge Robert D. Drain approved the reorganization plan for OneWeb, which filed
WASHINGTON — A Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft is on its way to the International Space Station after a successful launch on the company’s Antares rocket Oct. 2. The Antares 230+ rocket lifted off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia, at 9:16 p.m. Eastern. The NG-14 Cygnus spacecraft separated from the rocket’s
HELSINKI — China’s human spaceflight agency has selected a group of 18 new astronauts to participate in the country’s upcoming space station project. The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced the results Thursday (Chinese), a few days after the final decisions. The 18 new Chinese astronauts consist of seven pilots, seven spaceflight engineers and four
Gen. David Thompson said the new Space Systems Command will be established sometime in 2021 WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force intends to combine multiple space procurement organizations into a single Space Systems Command, and it is finding the task more complex and time consuming than originally envisioned, a senior official said Oct. 1. The
The contract is for the Evolved Strategic Satellite Communications program, known as Evolved Strategic Satcom WASHINGTON — Boeing received a $298 million contract to build a satellite payload prototype and develop a secure communications architecture for the U.S. Space Force’s Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS) program, the company announced Oct. 1. The ESS will replace the
VALLETTA, Malta — German startup Rocket Factory Augsburg has selected the Norwegian launch facility Andøya Spaceport for a 2022 maiden flight of the company’s RFA One small-satellite launch vehicle. Rocket Factory Augsburg, founded in 2018 as the launch arm of German space technology company OHB SE, is in the process of developing its three-stage RFA
The Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate is looking for companies with which to partner. WASHINGTON — The Pentagon contracting process can be a major deterrent to tech companies interested in selling products to the military. The U.S. Space Force is aware of that problem and is trying to incentivize suppliers that are developing
SAN FRANCISCO — SWISSto12 is working with Thales Alenia Space to expand the use of additively manufactured parts for geostationary communications satellites. Swissto12, a Lausanne, Switzerland, telecommunications component startup, has worked for years to design, manufacture and test waveguide signal interconnects for Thales Alenia Space communications satellites. Thales Alenia Space plans to install the 3D-printed