SAN FRANCISCO — Spire Global announced plans to work with VesselBot, a Greek technology company focused on the international maritime industry, to develop products based on Spire’s automatic identification system (AIS) data. San Francisco-based Spire formed Spire Maritime in 2018 to develop vessel tracking and monitoring services. Spire Maritime is forging partnerships with industry experts like
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WASHINGTON — SpaceX won a NASA contract to deliver cargo to the lunar Gateway by offering what the agency determined to be the most effective solution and at the lowest price. NASA announced March 27 that it awarded SpaceX for a Gateway Logistics Services (GLS) contract to deliver cargo to the lunar Gateway. The agency
The contract is for three dedicated launches to deliver 44 small satellites to low Earth orbit. WASHINGTON — VOX Space, a subsidiary of Virgin Orbit that focuses on the national security launch market, was awarded a $35 million contract for three dedicated launches to deliver 44 small satellites to low Earth orbit, the U.S. Space
Raymond said he is “concerned with our ability to stay ahead of the threat.” WASHINGTON — A report recommending changes in how military space systems are funded and acquired will be sent to Congress in the next few days, Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond said April 7. Speaking on a video chat hosted
WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency has restored operations of four space science missions it placed on hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, a move that illustrated how one agency’s actions can affect others. ESA announced March 24 it had suspended operations of the Cluster, ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, Mars Express and Solar Orbiter missions,
WASHINGTON — NASA released a report April 2 outlining its long-term approach to lunar exploration that involves establishing a “base camp” at the south pole of the moon, but with few details about cost and schedule. NASA prepared the report, “NASA’s Plan for Sustained Lunar Exploration and Development,” for the National Space Council at the
WASHINGTON — NASA has completed the crew for the first operational SpaceX commercial crew mission to the International Space Station, one that will not include any Russian cosmonauts after Roscosmos officials said they would not fly on what they consider an unproven vehicle. NASA announced March 31 that it had assigned veteran astronaut Shannon Walker
This system is meant to unlock the full potential of satellite data Raytheon has developed a prototype system for managing the floods of satellite data that help generate warnings and intelligence information for combatants and eventually, civilian first responders and researchers. The U.S. government’s global satellite network produces a constant flood of data — petabytes and petabytes
WASHINGTON — Satellite internet startup OneWeb is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as soon as Friday after its largest investor, Softbank, rejected a request for additional funding, according to sources familiar with the situation. OneWeb’s imminent filing was first reported by The Financial Times. Softbank, having already invested roughly $2 billion in OneWeb,
It is obvious the tiny novel coronavirus is giving and will continue to give all of us a very hard time for a prolonged period. When news of the COVID-19 outbreak and of its obvious severity first emerged, we may all have thought we were in for a hard time but I don’t think any
WASHINGTON and SAN FRANCISCO — Maxar Technologies warned customers that it may not be able to deliver spacecraft on time or on budget due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, satellite manufacturing and testing are continuing in its California facilities. In a March 20 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Maxar said Santa Clara,
WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab is continuing with preparations for a launch later this month despite the coronavirus pandemic, although another small launch company’s plans for a launch this month remain unclear. Rocket Lab spokesperson Morgan Bailey said March 19 that the company was still planning to launch an Electron rocket from New Zealand later this
WASHINGTON — Gogo, an in-flight Wi-Fi provider with capacity on 34 satellites, will seek price concessions to rein in bandwidth costs as airlines continue to ground flights amid coronavirus-related travel bans. Gogo CEO Oakleigh Thorne said the coronavirus pandemic is partly behind the company’s cost-saving efforts, since decreased airline traffic has had a knock-on effect
WASHINGTON — The Orion spacecraft that will fly on the first launch of the Space Launch System has completed testing at an Ohio facility and will soon be shipped back to the Kennedy Space Center for final launch preparations. NASA held a ceremony March 14 at Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, run by the
WASHINGTON — Manufacturers are generally optimistic that last year’s rebound in commercial geostationary satellite market orders marks the beginning of trend. After two years of single-digit totals, manufacturers sold 15 geostationary satellites in 2019. At the Satellite 2020 conference, executives from Airbus, Boeing, Maxar, Thales Alenia Space and Northrop Grumman expressed confidence that commercial business
Tory Bruno: “We are limiting non essential business travel but that doesn’t include launch and rockets.” WASHINGTON — Defense Department and NASA launch provider United Launch Alliance is implementing emergency measures in response to the coronavirus outbreak but continues to support upcoming missions, the company’s CEO Tory Bruno said March 10 during a meeting with
Planet felt like it didn’t have a choice. When the Earth-observation startup began launching cameras into orbit in 2013 and 2014, manufacturing lines weren’t churning out cubesats by the dozens. That’s no longer the case. Blue Canyon Technologies, AAC Clyde Space, GomSpace, NanoAvionics, Tyvak and several others are ready and willing to build cubesats en
When the bipartisan leadership of the House Science Committee introduced a NASA authorization bill Jan. 24, it surprised many people in the civil space community. The bill appeared to reject the goal of NASA’s Artemis program to return humans to the moon by 2024, requiring instead a return only by 2028. It also spurned NASA’s
SAN FRANCISCO – PredaSAR, a Florida startup led by retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Roger Teague, raised $25 million in seed funding for its plan to build a constellation of at least 44 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites. “The Defense Department has been after a space-based radar solution for many years,” Teague told SpaceNews. “There’s
WASHINGTON — The full House Science Committee will likely take up a NASA authorization bill later this month that a key member says will incorporate some changes to the original bill, but likely retain major provisions directing NASA’s human space exploration program. In a Feb. 28 interview, Rep. Kendra Horn (D-Okla.), chair of the House
HELSINKI — China will launch Beidou navigation satellites in March and May this year, completing a constellation designed for an array of civil and military applications. A Long March 3B rocket arrived at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center Feb. 14, according to China News Service. The Beidou satellite for the launch has also arrived at
WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic executives suggested Feb. 25 that the beginning of commercial flights of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle might slip again, even as the company starts planning to resume ticket sales. The company, which became publicly traded in October after closing a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Social Capital Hedosophia, released its fourth quarter
One of the largest single items is $255 million to launch two GPS 3 satellites WASHINGTON — Soon after the Pentagon’s budget request is submitted to Congress each year, the military services send to Capitol Hill a separate wish list known as “unfunded priorities.” These are items the military would like Congress to fund if
WASHINGTON — Airbus Group will shed about 7% of the workforce at its Airbus Defence and Space division after three years of weak sales, the company said Feb. 19. A “flat space market and postponed contracts on the defence side” of its business prompted the decision to cut 2,362 positions, Airbus Group CEO Guillaume Faury
WASHINGTON — With just a week before the first scheduled launch in DARPA’s responsive launch competition, the agency is tweaking the rules to allow the sole remaining company to perform both launches from the same spaceport. Officials with the DARPA Launch Challenge said in a Feb. 18 media briefing that Astra will perform both launches
WASHINGTON — The Commerce Department is once again requesting a large budget increase for its Office of Space Commerce in order to work on space traffic management activities after Congress rejected a similar request last year. Parts of the department’s fiscal year 2021 budget proposal were not released with the rest of the White House’s
WASHINGTON — The White House has added the Secretary of Energy and two other officials to the roster of members of the National Space Council. In a statement issued late Feb. 13, the White House announced that the Secretary of Energy, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and the Assistant to the President for
Congress approved $148 million for the Consolidated Space Operations Facility. WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s budget request for fiscal year 2021 includes $88 million to complete the construction of a Consolidated Space Operations Facility at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado. The CSOF was requested two years ago by the U.S. Air Force Space Command and U.S.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — A small launch vehicle company emerged from stealth mode this week, but is still keeping many details about its plans and capabilities behind closed doors. Astra, a company based in Alameda, California, formally announced its plans Feb. 3, an unveiling timed to the publication of a profile of the company in
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – The current and former directors of the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency (SDA) have differing views of congressional direction to move SDA under the U.S. Space Force. “Eventually, the Space Development Agency will report to the U.S. Space Force,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said Feb. 6 at the SmallSat Symposium. “That’s the