Tag: Space

First Copernicus satellite exceeds design working life (ESA)

This week marks seven years since the very first satellite that ESA built for the European Union’s Copernicus programme started delivering data to monitor...

The Quad Commits to Regulating Space (Rajeswari (Raji) Pillai Rajagopalan, ORF)

The first in-person summit of the leaders of the Quad group of countries, comprising of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, met in...

Space Force awards $88 million in contracts for launch system prototyping (Nathan Strout, Defense News)

The Space Force issued four awards worth a combined $88 million as an investment in next-generation rocket capabilities, Space Systems Command announced Sept. 24. Space...

New UK space strategy sets the stage for defense investments (Andrew Chuter, Defense News)

Britain gave a broad view of where the country is heading in the defense space sector as it launched a national space strategy Sept....

Microgravity on demand with Earth return through ESA’s Boost! (ESA)

A new six-month round-trip commercial space transportation service from 2022, backed by ESA, will enable companies to manufacture in space very pure and more...

Going hyperspectral for CHIME (ESA)

With Covid restrictions a little more relaxed, scientists from Europe and the USA were finally able to team up for a long-awaited field experiment...

Terran Orbital acquires new satellite development facility (Debra Winter, Space News)

Terran Orbital leased four floors of this Irvine, California, building to house satellite design, engineering and development. Credit: Terran Orbital Terran Orbital, the parent company...

Space Force discussions with private sector on future space architecture to remain classified (Sandra Erwin, Space News)

 The first briefing with space and defense contractors planned by the Space Force’s Warfighting Analysis Center Oct. 27 will be at a classified facility in the...

Xona Space Systems fully funds GPS-alternative demo mission (Jason Rainbow, Space News)

Xona’s constellation of smallsats aim to provide secure navigation and timing services with the resilience and accuracy needed to enable modern devices to operate...

GAO steps up criticism of Space Force’s missile-warning satellite procurement (Sandra Erwin, Space News)

Current (left) and planned (right) missile warning architecture. Credit: Government Accountability Office The U.S. Space Force is providing Congress overly optimistic projections about the schedule...

Exo-Space pivots to meet demand for on-orbit processing (Debra Werner, Space News)

FeatherEdge is a image-analysis device that plugs into a satellite or balloon payload to provide onboard image processing. FeatherEdge fills 1/2 of a cubesat....

Court filing outlines Blue Origin’s case against NASA SpaceX lunar lander award (Jeff Foust, Space News)

Blue Origin argues that the failure of SpaceX to include flight readiness reviews for every Starship element launch rendered its proposal deficient and thus...

Rocket Lab to launch Astroscale inspection satellite (Jeff Foust, Space News)

Astroscale's ADRAS-J mission, to launch on a Rocket Lab Electron in 2023, will rendezvous with an inspect an upper stage from a Japanese rocket...

Starliner test flight likely to slip to 2022 (Jeff Foust, Space News)

A second uncrewed test flight of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner, postponed in August because of valve problems, is unlikely to take place before 2022, a...

NASA splits human spaceflight directorate into two organizations (Jeff Foust, Space News)

Jim Free (left) will be the associate administrator leading the new Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, whlie Kathy Lueders runs the Space Operations Mission...

Watchdog expects delays to Space Force’s next missile warning satellites (Nathan Strout, Defense News)

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the SBIRS GEO Flight 5 mission for the U.S Space Force's Space and Missile Systems...