The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded Stratolaunch a contract to support the inaugural flight test of the company's second reusable Talon-A hypersonic vehicle called TA-3. The award came on the heels of a 2022 AFRL contract to facilitate the first flight of the initial configuration of the TA product line.

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Brian Rogers, senior director of global launch services at Rocket Lab, said he expects to see an increased demand for the Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron, a modified version of the company's Electron launch vehicle, as the Department of Defense continues to invest in hypersonics, C4ISRNET reported Saturday. The suborbital testbed launch vehicle took its inaugural flight from a launch site at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia in June in support of the Pentagon's Multi-Service Advanced Hypersonic Testbed.

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Rocket Lab USA has unveiled a 144,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Long Beach, California, to support the production of its two rocket engines. The new engine development center will house the development and production of the company’s 3D-printed engine Rutherford for its Electron launch vehicle and the Archimedes engine for its reusable medium-lift rocket, dubbed Neutron.

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The global race to build and deploy hypersonic weapons and technologies is heating up, but the United States is falling behind some of its key competitors in this critical area. China and Russia have demonstrated hypersonic capabilities, while the U.S. remains in the testing phase. Experts from government, industry and academia gathered at the ExecutiveBiz 2023 […] More

The General Services Administration is the not-so-secret beating heart of the government contracting community. It plays an instrumental role in determining the cadence and structure of how contracts are awarded through aspects like the Federal Acquisition Service and the GSA Schedule. These long-term contract offerings are a major enabler of maintaining and accelerating the technology […] More

Rocket Lab USA has unveiled a suborbital testbed launch vehicle it developed based on its flagship Electron reusable small rocket. The Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron, or HASTE, is scheduled for an inaugural flight from a launch site at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia in the first half of this year, the company said […] More

The Defense Innovation Unit has selected Australian aerospace company Hypersonix Launch Systems and California-based space launch services provider Fenix Space to prototype a suite of hypersonic weapon test systems for the Department of Defense. Under the Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities program, Hypersonix Launch Systems will develop an airborne testing vehicle capable of flying […] More

Iceye has inked a blank purchase agreement with NASA to supply high-resolution synthetic aperture radar commercial earth observation data products. A comprehensive suite of the Finnish microsatellite manufacturer’s SAR products including small constellation satellite data, evaluation and assessment, data cadence, data latency, area coverage and data usage policy will be delivered to the space agency in support […] More

GeoOptics will provide commercial small constellation satellite data products to NASA to help scale agency-collected data for future use. The technology company will deliver a catalog of its commercial high-resolution Earth observation data products, which will include data sets, associated metadata and collateral information, data cadence, data latency, area coverage and data usage policy under […] More

Canadian company GHGSat has received a five-year, $7 million blanket purchase agreement to create a catalog of commercial small satellite data products for NASA assessment and evaluation. GHGSat will produce a comprehensive list of high-resolution imagery of greenhouse gas emissions as the agency looks to augment or complement data collection work across scientific programs, NASA […] More

Lockheed Martin has made progress with its Next Generation Interceptor commitment after verifying the capability of the defense system’s communication technology to function through adverse environments while in flight. The defense and aerospace company completed a prototype testing of the interceptor’s communication radio technology, which can help raise in-flight situation awareness and therefore enable the […] More

Planet Labs has received a new contract to continue providing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with satellite imagery in support of oil spill monitoring activities in the Gulf of Mexico. The San Francisco-based company said Wednesday it will deliver PlanetScope and SkySat imaging products to NOAA to help it acquire more information about the […] More