Aerojet Rocketdyne has tested an engine for NASA‘s second exploration mission at the space agency’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The RS-25 engine, dubbed as E2063, was fired up for 500 seconds in a move to evaluate the system’s capacity to support the EM-2 exploration mission, Aerojet Rocketdyne said Thursday. RS-25 engines will continuously fire […] More

SpaceX has squeezed in a mystery mission known as Zuma to its updated schedule of launches for 2017, NASASpaceFlight.com reported Monday. The Zuma mission, also known as Mission 1390 on the Federal Communications Commission launch license, is set to take off aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket by Nov. 10 from a launch pad at Kennedy […] More

NASA will launch the Airbus-built replacement satellites for the U.S.-German Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite duo aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the first quarter of 2018, Space Flight Now reported Tuesday. The space agency inked a shared launch agreement with Iridium and the Helmholtz Center-Potsdam German Research Center for Geosciences called GFZ to launch the […] More

SpaceX has pushed back the launch of a third batch of satellites for Iridium Communications‘ NEXT constellation by five days to Oct. 9, Iridium announced Tuesday on its website. Iridium CEO Matt Desch said the schedule change was requested by SpaceX to provide more time to prepare the Falcon 9 rocket that will carry the 10 […] More

Spaceflight Industries‘ BlackSky division has partnered with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to develop a cloud-based geospatial intelligence broker platform for the Air Force Research Laboratory under a previously awarded $16.4 million contract. The GEOINT Broker Development Platform will utilize an agile development approach that works to enable users to continuously provide input to build the technology, Spaceflight announced Thursday. […] More

The U.S. Air Force has entered final launch preparations for the fifth mission of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle ahead of its scheduled Sept. 7 deployment aboard SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 rocket. The service branch said Thursday the Boeing-built X-37B OTV spaceplane will carry ride-sharing small satellites and perform on-orbit tests of new space technologies. X-37B will also demonstrate experimental electronics and oscillating heat pipe […] More

A Sierra Nevada Corp-built spacecraft has been subjected to a captive carry test at NASA‘s Armstrong Flight Research Center under the second phase of flight tests designed to prepare the vehicle for a future orbital flight. SNC said Wednesday Dream Chaser tests are part of a Space Act Agreement the company and the space agency signed through the Commercial […] More

Spaceflight Industries‘ BlackSky division has received a two-year, $16.4 million contract to build a cloud-based geospatial intelligence broker platform for the Air Force Research Laboratory. BlackSky will develop the platform to help government users collect and analyze GEOINT data from multiple data sources worldwide, Spaceflight said Tuesday. “Easy access and streamlined delivery of timely and relevant […] More

A U.S. Air Force satellite is scheduled Friday to launch into orbit aboard the Orbital ATK-built Minotaur IV rocket that will lift off from a launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Spaceflight Insider reported Wednesday. The Operationally Responsive Space 5 satellite will work to provide situational awareness capabilities as the U.S. military […] More

NASA has asked industry to submit concept studies on solar electric propulsion vehicle platforms designed to support future deep space exploration missions. A draft broad agency announcement posted Friday on FedBizOpps says the agency seeks study proposals to support the development of concepts and approaches related to the power and propulsion element under the Next Space Technologies […] More

SpaceX completed Thursday a static fire test on Falcon 9 rocket’s Merlin 1D engines at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for the Monday launch of the Dragon spacecraft as part of the company’s 12th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station, Spaceflight Now reported Thursday. The spacecraft is scheduled to take off […] More

SpaceX aims to launch its Dragon spacecraft on Sunday to deliver approximately 6,000 pounds of crew supplies, equipment, science and research investigations to the International Space Station as part of the company’s 12th commercial resupply mission with NASA. Dragon is scheduled to blast off atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 12:56 p.m. Eastern time Sunday from Kennedy Space […] More