Space

HOUSTON — As NASA adds new companies to a commercial lunar landing services program, some existing participants worry its value to them may now be diminished. NASA announced Nov. 18 that it had selected five companies to join the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, a NASA initiative to purchase rides on commercial lunar landers

BREMEN, Germany – Development of spaceplanes for suborbital tourism, satellite launches and point-to-point terrestrial transportation are benefiting from advanced technology, panelists said at the Space Tech Expo Europe here. “It was completely different 30 years ago,” said Koichi Yonemoto, co-founder and chief technical officer of Space Walker, a Japanese startup developing a suborbital spaceplane to

HOUSTON — The Indian government has offered new details about what happened during its first attempt to land on the moon in September. In a written response to questions Nov. 20 to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s Parliament, Jitendra Singh, minister of state for the Department of Space, said that the Vikram

HOUSTON — The first prototype of SpaceX’s next-generation launch system was damaged Nov. 20 during a tanking test, a setback the company claimed would not serious affect their development plans. Video from several observers in the vicinity of SpaceX’s test site in Boca Chica, Texas, near Brownsville, showed a white plume erupt from the top

BREMEN, Germany — As United Launch Alliance prepares for the maiden flight of its Vulcan Centaur rocket, the company no longer has a clear timeline for a major second-stage upgrade.  ULA is preparing to launch Vulcan Centaur in 2021. The rocket features a new first stage powered by BE-4 engines from Blue Origin and an

HOUSTON — Commercial spaceports say they need to become more proactive in dealing with public opposition to proposed launch sites through a combination of education and community involvement. In October, a private landowner in Hawaii, W.H. Shipman Ltd., announced it was pulling out of a planned launch site on property it owns near the city

BREMEN, Germany – A European Earth observation cubesat scheduled to launch in 2020 will demonstrate an important space application for artificial intelligence. One of the two six-unit cubesats that comprises the FSSCat mission will rely on artificial intelligence to determine which images to send from the satellite to ground stations. “For instance if you have

The report titled ”Iran Military Power” is part of a Defense Intelligence Agency effort to inform government leaders and the public on major foreign military challenges. WASHINGTON — The Defense Intelligence Agency released a new unclassified report that highlights Iran’s space program as a means to advance that nation’s civilian and military technologies. The report

WASHINGTON — Boeing said Nov. 18 that a report issued last week by NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) regarding the commercial crew program, including claims that the company considered withdrawing from the program, was inaccurate. In a lengthy release, Boeing took on a number of statements in the Nov. 14 OIG report that concluded

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

WASHINGTON — Satellite operators Intelsat, SES and Telesat on Nov. 15 detailed how they would calculate the proceeds they have pledged to contribute to the U.S. treasury if the Federal Communications Commission accepts their proposal to privately auction C-band spectrum sought by 5G network operators.  The satellite operators, acting collectively as the C-Band Alliance, would

WASHINGTON — A group of planetary defense advocates is asking European governments to fund a mission to a near Earth asteroid, three years after a similar mission failed to win approval. At a press conference in Berlin Nov. 15, backers of the proposed Hera mission said more than 1,200 scientists and other supporters had signed

Maj. Gen. Stephen Whiting said the transfer of space traffic management responsibilities can’t happen until Commerce gets the necessary resources. WASHINGTON — Military space operators at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, are working with the Department of Commerce to help ease the transfer of space traffic management responsibilities, Maj. Gen. Stephen Whiting said Nov. 15.

WASHINGTON — SpaceX successfully tested Nov. 13 the thrusters used as part of the abort system for its Crew Dragon spacecraft, nearly seven months after a similar test resulted in the loss of another spacecraft. The test of the Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco thrusters took place shortly after 3 p.m. Eastern at Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX,

WASHINGTON —  Loft Orbital has raised a fresh $13 million to continue development of a constellation of small satellites purpose-built to carry a mix of payloads for customers who don’t want to fly their own satellites.  Foundation Capital led the Series A round with participation from Kima Ventures, Cendana Capital, Swell Partners, and GFA Ventures,

SDA is the new term replacing Space Situational Awareness, according to an Oct. 4 memo from Air Force Space Command. WASHINGTON — The Air Force Space Command has introduced a new buzz phrase for space professionals: Space Domain Awareness. SDA is the new term for what used to be SSA, or Space Situational Awareness, Air

WASHINGTON — NASA’s inspector general warned in a new report that, because of commercial crew delays, utilization of the International Space Station will drop sharply in 2020 and that NASA runs the risk of losing access entirely by next fall. The Nov. 14 report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) concluded that, because of

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 — Exos Aerospace said the failed launch of a reusable suborbital sounding rocket last month was caused by a structural failure of the rocket shortly after liftoff. In a statement released by the Texas-based company Nov. 14, Exos said its Suborbital Autonomous Rocket with GuidancE, or SARGE, rocket was lost 48 seconds after its

WASHINGTON — NASA paid Boeing nearly $300 million more than originally planned in its commercial crew contract in part because of agency concerns that the company might drop out of the program, a new report claims. The Nov. 14 report on the commercial crew program by NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) highlighted several issues

WASHINGTON — EchoStar has ordered two tiny S-band satellites from Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems to jumpstart a low-Earth-orbit constellation using spectrum gained through its October acquisition of IoT startup Helios Wire.  Anders Johnson, Echostar’s president, said during a Nov. 7 earnings call that EchoStar has signed contracts for the construction and launch of a first batch of

WASHINGTON — With growing bipartisan skepticism that NASA’s current plan to return humans to the moon by 2024 is achievable, members of the House Science Committee used a Nov. 13 hearing to advocate for a different, and arguably more conventional, approach. In statements at a hearing of the committee’s space subcommittee on human exploration of

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

SAN FRANCISCO – Launcher won its first government funding when the U.S. Air Force awarded the the Brooklyn-based startup $1.5 million to accelerate development and testing of its E-2 rocket engine. Launcher announced the Air Force funding Nov. 13. “It is extremely helpful and keeps us on track to conclude engine development by the end

WASHINGTON — In its ongoing quest to increase launch vehicle production, Rocket Lab has unveiled a new industrial robotic system designed to speed up manufacturing of its Electron rocket. Rocket Lab announced Nov. 13 it has started to use “Rosie,” a custom-designed robotic manufacturing system that can produce the carbon composite components of the Electron

SAN FRANCISCO – A new study says companies can build, launch and operate constellations to gather global Earth imagery with a resolution of one meter for $300 million. “You can build a state-of-the-art optical imaging capability with 12 satellites for $300 million,” said Will Porteous, general partner and chief operating officer for RRE Ventures, a

WASHINGTON — Two astronauts are set to begin a series of spacewalks this week to repair an instrument outside the International Space Station that was never designed to be serviced in orbit. At a pair of Nov. 12 press conferences, officials said that NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano are

WASHINGTON — Megaconstellation startup OneWeb and its largest investor Softbank asked the New York Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit from Intelsat, arguing that Intelsat failed to finalize rights it claimed it had to resell OneWeb satellite capacity.  OneWeb and Softbank told the court Nov. 11 that a 90-day negotiation window with Intelsat in late

In October, we asked SpaceNews readers to vote on the finalists for this year’s SpaceNews Awards for Excellence and Innovation. More than 40,000 votes were cast by the time the poll closed Nov. 1. The  Readers’ Choice Award winners named below will be honored at our 3rd annual awards luncheon Dec. 10 in Washington along

WASHINGTON — A NASA space telescope recently completed a major review and is making good progress, project officials say, despite uncertainty about its funding. NASA announced Nov. 1 that the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) passed its preliminary design review (PDR), a major milestone in the development of the space-based observatory. That overall PDR came

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 — The Russian company that markets launch vehicles commercially says it doesn’t expect the new Soyuz-5 medium-lift rocket to be available until the mid-2020s, despite leveraging existing designs and facilities. In an interview during the International Astronautical Congress Oct. 24, Evgeny Solodovnikov, sales director of GK Launch Services, says the Soyuz-5 rocket, whose design

DoD wants to increase awareness of the threats the nation faces in space but classification is a problem. RESTON, Va. — The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency said it’s not a matter of if, but when anti-satellite weapons developed by China and Russia take aim at U.S. spacecraft. “These capabilities exist now,” Army Lt.

SAN FRANCISCO – Fiber Optic Manufacturing in Space (FOMS) Inc. presented the results Nov. 7 of its successful campaign to produce optical fiber on the International Space Station. FOMS “successfully completed the calibration of the manufacturing hardware and demonstrated the first optical fiber manufacturing on orbit,” FOMS Principal Investigator Dmitry Starodubov announced at the 6th Workshop

WASHINGTON — A NASA astronaut flying to the International Space Station next spring could be the only American on the station for an extended period because of uncertainty in the status of commercial crew vehicles. NASA announced Oct. 30 that Chris Cassidy will fly to the station next April on a Soyuz spacecraft with Russian

The Infrastructure Asset Pre-Assessment (IA-Pre) program will be run by the Air Force Space Command’s commercial satellite communications office. RESTON, Va. — The Air Force starting in 2020 will rate the cybersecurity of commercial satellite communications providers in an effort to increase the protection of military networks. The new program is called Infrastructure Asset Pre-Assessment

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

WASHINGTON — OneWeb has delayed the beginning of its regular launch campaign by a month to allow more testing of its small broadband satellites.  “We are taking the utmost care to prepare for launch and therefore are taking a few extra weeks to conduct additional tests on the satellites which will be shipped in December

WASHINGTON — Boeing said Nov. 7 that a misplaced pin prevented a parachute from deploying during a pad abort test of its CST-100 Starliner vehicle three days earlier, the only flaw in a key test of that commercial crew vehicle. In a call with reporters, John Mulholland, vice president and program manager for commercial crew

WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency is considering programs to make Vega light-lift rockets more competitive, according to the chief executive of Vega manufacturer Avio.  Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo said during a Nov. 7 earnings call that Vega is on track for a return to flight by March, though what payload will launch on the

SAN FRANCISCO — Ursa Space Systems, a geospatial analytics company specializing in applications for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, raised $15 million in a Series B funding round led by Razor’s Edge Ventures. With the additional funding announced Nov. 7, Ithaca, New York-based Ursa plans create new data products. “We’re seeing a number of new

SAN FRANCISCO – Will Roper, the Air Force assistant secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, and Lt. Gen. John “JT” Thompson, Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center commander, said the Air Force is committed to working more closely with innovative companies. “Space Pitch Day and a lot of other initiatives we have going on

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 — The U.K. Space Agency will provide $9.5 million for infrastructure at a British airport that seeks to host Virgin Orbit’s air-launch system. The U.K. Space Agency announced Nov. 5 that it will provide £7.35 million ($9.5 million) to Virgin Orbit U.K. Ltd., the U.K. branch of Virgin Orbit, for launch support equipment and

SAN FRANCISCO – U.S. Air Force leaders emphasized their commitment to quick acquisition of innovative commercial technologies by awarding a total of $9 million to 12 companies on the first Air Force Space Pitch Day here Nov. 5. Each of the 12 companies received a $750,000 check and signed contract on the spot during the

The Air Force wants to work with multiple satellite broadband providers that are currently building LEO constellations WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force has been testing commercial space internet services and so far it likes what it sees. A program known as Defense Experimentation Using the Commercial Space Internet, or DEUCSI, recently tried out SpaceX’s

WASHINGTON — Spire Global has opened its sixth office, setting up a team of 10 employees in the nation’s capital as it seeks to gain more U.S. government business.  Peter Platzer, CEO of Spire, said the company will soon number 200 people spread across the United States, Scotland, Luxembourg and Singapore.  Spire established its Washington

WASHINGTON — Maxar Technologies on Nov. 4 said an undisclosed customer has agreed to buy a geostationary communications satellite, providing what Maxar offered as proof that retaining and resizing Space Systems Loral was a worthwhile decision.  Maxar executives said that the resizing effort progressed further with a $291 million property sale in Palo Alto, California,