Science

TITUSVILLE, Fla. — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will complete its transition to a new generation of geostationary weather satellites in January when it shuts down two older spacecraft. NOAA announced Dec. 18 that the GOES-14 and GOES-15 spacecraft will be powered down and placed into “orbital storage” by Jan. 31. Those spacecraft, launched

WASHINGTON — Startup satellite builder Saturn Satellite Networks says it doesn’t have a customer lined up for the small geostationary spacecraft it booked aboard the inaugural launch of Northrop Grumman’s OmegA rocket, but reserved the 2021 mission to save time down the road.   Northrop Grumman announced Dec. 12 that Saturn agreed to launch one or

Spokeswoman Ann Stefanek: “The Air Force will proceed with an aggressive and effective sole-source negotiation.” WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force confirmed Dec. 13 that Northrop Grumman is the only bidder for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program to develop a new intercontinental ballistic missile. The Air Force only received one proposal in response to

WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman announced Dec. 12 that Saturn Satellite Networks, a startup satellite manufacturer, will be the customer for the first OmegA launch in 2021. Northrop said Saturn will fly one or two of its NationSat small geostationary satellites on an OmegA rocket launching from the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B in the

NEW ORLEANS — The federal government issued updated guidelines Dec. 9 to mitigate the creation of orbital debris, but many in the space safety community were disappointed with the limited scope of the changes. The revised Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices (ODMSP), announced in conjunction with an orbital debris conference near Houston, are the first

The Falcon 9 upper stage engine performed a 20.1 second burn after the six-hour coast LOS ANGELES — The upper stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 mission to the International Space Station Dec. 5 successfully performed a six-hour coast and a deorbit burn, a test that had been requested by the U.S. Air Force to

WASHINGTON — NASA space station managers are still trying to find ways to squeeze in at least three spacewalks into a crowded schedule before the station’s crew drops to three people in February. NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano completed the third in a series of spacewalks Dec. 2 to repair the

SAN FRANCISCO – TriSept Corp., a launch integration and mission management company, announced Dec. 2 an $18 million indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract to support NASA cubesat launches. Under the new contract, NASA will have the option of turning to TriSept of Chantilly, Virginia, for mission integration services and dispenser hardware in support of cubesat

SEVILLE, Spain — Italy, one of the largest contributors to the European Space Agency, is pleased with the outcome of the recent ministerial meeting that provided funding for a number of its priorities, including a reusable spacecraft. In a finally tally of contributions provided by ESA at the end of the Space19+ ministerial meeting here

SAN FRANCISCO – A decision made at the recent World Radiocommunication Conference could undermine the accuracy of weather forecasts by interfering with meteorological satellite observations, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). “The race to release 5G technology threatens to squeeze out other radio-frequency dependent technologies, including

French propulsion startup ThrustMe unexpectedly made it into orbit early this month with its innovative propulsion system placed aboard a Chinese cubesat. Dianfeng, or Xiaoxiang-1 (08), a six-unit cubesat developed by privately owned Spacety, was a secondary payload on the launch of the Gaofen-7 civilian Earth observation satellite Nov. 2, along with a first satellite

HOUSTON — The announcement this week by the head of the Federal Communications Commission that he will seek a public action of satellite C-band spectrum is unlikely to be the final word in that debate, industry officials believe. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced Nov. 18 that he will propose the commission conduct a public auction

BREMEN, Germany – Capella Space won a U.S. Air Force contract to adapt its commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for military applications. Capella won the $750,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 contract for its presentation at Air Force Space Pitch Day, a competition in San Francisco in early November to identify commercial technology

BREMEN, Germany — FCC Chairman Ajit Pai informed Congress Nov. 18 that the agency will run a public auction of C-band spectrum instead of allowing a consortium of satellite operators to sell it directly to 5G wireless operators.  Satellite operators Intelsat, SES and Telesat, acting as the C-Band Alliance, have been lobbying the Federal Communications

The 10-year contract is for operations and support of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency, Milstar and Defense Satellite Communications System constellations. WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $3.3 billion contract for support services on classified military communications satellites, the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center announced Nov. 15. The 10-year indefinite-delivery

WASHINGTON — The Senate Commerce Committee approved Nov. 13 a NASA authorization bill introduced a week earlier to extend the life of the International Space Station and support other agency programs. The committee approved, on a voice vote, the NASA Authorization Act of 2019. That bill, S.2800, was introduced Nov. 6 by a bipartisan group

WASHINGTON — SpaceX completed its second launch of 60 Starlink satellites Nov. 11, making its own system the largest commercial telecommunications satellite constellation in orbit.  SpaceX launched the satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket at 9:56 a.m. Eastern, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The satellites separated just over one hour later into a

WASHINGTON — Telesat Canada will likely choose the winner of a now three-way race to build its low Earth orbit broadband constellation in the first few months of 2020 instead of this year, CEO Dan Goldberg said Nov. 5.  Goldberg, in an earnings call, said Telesat still anticipates having 200 satellites orbiting in 2022 and

DIU received 25 proposals for the Dismounted Assured PNT System WASHINGTON — The Defense Innovation Unit’s Boston office is reviewing vendor proposals for handheld navigation devices that don’t rely on Global Positioning System satellite signals. They would be used by U.S. Army soldiers in future military conflicts when they expect GPS signals to be disrupted.

WASHINGTON — Finding international consensus on deployment milestones for constellations of non-geosynchronous satellites is a top space-related priority for the U.S. delegation attending the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference, officials said Nov. 1.  Grace Koh, the ambassador leading the U.S. delegation at WRC-19 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, this month, said there are several space-related topics the

WASHINGTON — Top officials with the European Space Agency remain confident that they will be able to resolve the parachute problems that threaten to delay next summer’s launch of the ExoMars 2020 rover mission. In two high-altitude tests earlier this year, parachutes intended to slow down the ExoMars 2020 lander suffered tears in their canopies.

GAO said the Air Force Space C2 program requires more oversight from the Defense Department. WASHINGTON — The Government Accountability Office in a new report gave low marks to the Air Force’s Space Command and Control program, a long troubled effort to provide commanders with better tools to monitor what is happening in space. The