Science

HELSINKI — Chinese private firm Landspace is working towards a potential first orbital launch attempt with a methane-fueled launch vehicle later this year.  Landspace completed assembly of the four Tianque-12 liquid methane-liquid oxygen engines which power the first stage of the Zhuque-2 rocket in early February. This was preceded by a payload fairing separation test

The U.S. military should consider investments in space “mobility and logistics” to prepare for the future, said Lt. Gen. John Shaw. WASHINGTON — The U.S. military over decades has built extensive infrastructure to move troops and equipment around the world. It may now need to start thinking about investing in foundation technologies to support future

SAN FRANCISCO – The Quebec government will invest 400 million Canadian dollars ($315.5 million) in Telesat’s Lightspeed low-Earth orbit communications network. MDA will produce the constellation’s phased array antennas. And Thales Alenia Space will manufacture the satellites in Quebec, under a memorandum of understanding announced Feb. 18. “The Lightspeed program will create 600 high-paying STEM

WASHINGTON — While the primary focus of the Mars 2020 mission will be the search for evidence of past Martian life, the rover mission carries several other payloads that could support future robotic and human missions to the red planet. Perhaps the highest profile of these payloads is a small helicopter, called Ingenuity, that will

More than ever before, the promise and potential in space is available to those with the ambition to reach for it. Nowhere is this story more exciting and compelling than in Africa. Considering the goals and priorities detailed in the African Union’s (AU) Agenda 2063, the socio-economic and professional development many African nations seek can

The Space Force is buying advanced GPS receivers that can take advantage of a jam-resistant signal known as M-code. WASHINGTON — BAE Systems announced on Feb. 17 that it won the largest share of a $552 million deal the Space Force awarded to three companies in November to design and manufacture advanced GPS receivers that

WASHINGTON — NASA’s Mars 2020 spacecraft is operating “perfectly” ahead of its Feb. 18 landing on Mars that will be a key milestone for the agency’s future Mars exploration plans. The spacecraft is scheduled to land the rover Perseverance on the surface of Jezero Crater on Mars at about 3:55 p.m. Eastern Feb. 18. That

The contract is for work performed at U.S. Space Command headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, between now and February 2030.  WASHINGTON — U.S. Space Command awarded LinQuest Corp. a $200 million contract for advisory and support services, the Defense Department announced Feb. 16. The contract is for work performed at U.S. Space Command

SAN FRANCISCO – Southern California startup Frontier Aerospace has won contracts to supply propulsion systems for two Astrobotic lunar landers. Simi Valley, California-based Frontier Aerospace was already building 150-pound and 10-pound thrusters for Astrobotics’ Peregrine lunar lander, when the Pittsburgh-based company awarded Frontier Aerospace a contract in January to build 700-pound-thrust axial engines for the

WASHINGTON — SpaceX launched another set of Falcon 9 satellites Feb. 15, but suffered a rare failed landing of the rocket’s first stage during the mission. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:59 p.m. Eastern, after unfavorable weather conditions caused a one-day delay. The

SAN FRANCISCO – Intelsat SA announced a reorganization plan Feb. 12 to reduce the Luxembourg-based communications satellite fleet operator’s debt from nearly $15 billion to $7 billion. Creditors responsible for approximately $3.8 billion of Intelsat’s debt have approved Intelsat’s plan and the company is seeking approval from additional creditors, according to a Plan of Reorganization

Jim McClelland: “I give a lot of credit to the cubesat guys.” WASHINGTON — Technological advances in small satellites are helping improve spacecraft designs and pushing the industry to take more risks, Jim McClelland, vice president of mission architecture at Maxar Technologies, said Feb. 10 at the SmallSat Symposium. “It’s been a very exciting transformation

ULA’s Tory Bruno said too much investment is going into risky launch ventures even though demand is flat. Not everyone agrees. There has been a flurry of speculation recently that too much investment is being poured into risky launch ventures, creating a speculative bubble in the launch services sector. Critics, government consultants, and even some

WASHINGTON — Lynk will start testing cellular connectivity services with its first small satellite in the near future as it plans to begin commercial service early next year. During a panel discussion at the SmallSat Symposium Feb. 11, Margo Deckard, co-founder and chief operating officer of Lynk, said tests it performed last year demonstrated its

“We’ve been doing space operations for years under the Air Force. But as a service we now have to advocate for new resources,” said Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman. WASHINGTON — The Space Force is by far the smallest branch of the U.S. military and will have to “punch above its weight” to get its

WASHINGTON — NASA needs to pursue “aggressive” development of space nuclear propulsion technologies if the agency wants to use them for human missions to Mars in the next two decades, a report by a National Academies committee concluded. A Feb. 12 study by the National Academies, sponsored by NASA, said both nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP)

Demonstrating optical crosslinks is a top priority for SDA and DARPA as any future military network has to be able to move huge amounts of data. WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s space agency this year will launch a series of experiments — including satellites with laser links and missile-tracking sensors — as is prepares to begin

HawkEye 360 CEO John Serafini: Government contracts help startups raise private funds needed to pay for the space and ground infrastructure. WASHINGTON — About 270 of the 620 remote sensing satellites in orbit are privately owned with about 200 of these belong to U.S. companies, according to the Aerospace Corp. Only about 50 are owned

SAN FRANCISCO — Hewlett Packard Enterprise is preparing to send a second-generation Spaceborne Computer to the International Space Station later this month. The Spaceborne Computer-2 will be linked to Microsoft’s Azure cloud through NASA and HPE ground stations, meaning the space station will have far more data processing power and better connections with Earth than

WASHINGTON — NASA is no longer considering launching the Europa Clipper mission on the Space Launch System, deciding instead to launch the spacecraft on a commercial rocket it will procure in the next year. During a Feb. 10 presentation at a meeting of NASA’s Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG), leaders of the Europa Clipper project

In a February 1, 2021 SpaceNews article titled, “An open system for missile-warning satellite data is in the works but faces challenges,” a number of assertions were made that were factually incorrect, misleading and taken out of context about Lockheed Martin’s role in our nation’s premiere missile warning systems, including the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS),

HELSINKI — China’s first interplanetary mission, Tianwen-1, successfully entered Mars orbit Feb. 10 following a 202-day journey through deep space. Tianwen-1 initiated a near 15-minute burn of its 3000N main engine at 6:52 a.m. Eastern allowing the five-ton spacecraft to slow down and be gravitationally captured by Mars.  The Mars orbit insertion maneuver was designed

SAN FRANCISCO – Money will continue flowing into the space industry from government agencies, private equity firms and public markets, according to panelists at the 2021 SmallSat Symposium. “It has never been a better time to raise money for ventures in and around space,” said James Murray, a partner at investment bank PJT Partners. While

JOHANNESBURG — The European GNSS Agency, GSA, has awarded a €100 million ($121 million) contract to Eutelsat Communications to develop and operate the agency’s next-generation EGNOS satellite navigation overlay service.  The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is used to improve the performance and accuracy of U.S. GPS signals. These signals can then be utilized

“The cloud services that are now available to startups are phenomenal,” said Spencer Ziegler, CEO of Orbital Wave. WASHINGTON — The cloud computing industry is developing new products and services that will help space companies monetize data without having to invest in infrastructure, executives said Feb. 8 at the SmallSat Symposium. Steve Terry, business development

SAN FRANCISCO – Shay Har-Noy, former Tomnod founder and CEO, has joined Spire Global as the company’s general manager of the aviation systems business unit. Har-Noy has been acutely aware of aviation’s need for satellite data since 2014 when Tomnod enlisted the help of more than 10 million people to tag oil slicks, wreckage and

SAN FRANCISCO – Xenesis is adopting an usual business model in its campaign to establish an optical communications constellation. The Illinois startup is signing revenue-sharing agreements with key suppliers, including satellite component manufacturer Space Micro, Geost, a firm focused on sensors and electro-optics, and optical system specialist PlaneWave Instruments. “We wanted to develop a partnership

WASHINGTON — ABL Space Systems will conduct a launch for Lockheed Martin from a new spaceport in the Shetland Islands, fulfilling an agreement with the British government announced in 2018. Lockheed said Feb. 7 that ABL will perform a launch of its RS1 rocket from the Shetland Space Centre, a spaceport to be developed on

DARPA’s vision is to develop materials, processes and designs needed for in-space manufacturing of large structures. WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to hear from the space industry about their capabilities to manufacture large structures on the moon. This is a new project that DARPA announced Feb. 5 called “Novel Orbital and

WASHINGTON — As the United Arab Emirates’ Hope spacecraft arrives at Mars, those involved with the mission have a mix of confidence and concern about the chances of successfully entering orbit. The Emirates Mars Mission, or Hope, spacecraft will arrive at Mars Feb. 9, entering orbit at about 10:41 a.m. Eastern. The spacecraft will fire