The remote sensing satellite built by Ball Aerospace for DigitalGlobe has cleared a series of environmental testing, taking it a step closer to a possible launch in mid-August. The WorldView-3 satellite completed thermal vacuum, acoustin, vibration and pyro-separation testing, Ball Aerospace announced Tuesday. The satellite will also undergo electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic compatibility tests on […] More

Bechtel has won an engineering and technology innovation award from Fiatech’s CETI Award for its use of radio frequency identification technology on its liquefied natural gas projects in Australia. Bechtel won the CETI Award in the intelligent and automated construction jobsite category, the company announced Tuesday. Bechtel used the Atlas RFID Solutions Inc.-developed Jovix system […] More

Ball Aerospace & Technologies expects to deliver a commercial Earth-observing satellite at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in June, approximately two months ahead of the spacecraft’s scheduled launch in August. The company said Tuesday that it is close to completing post-environmental baseline tests and ground segment assessments on DigitalGlobe‘s WorldView-3 remote sensory spacecraft . WorldView-3’s initial launch […] More

Bechtel has won an award from RFID Journal for the way the company used radio frequency identification tags to manage construction materials for three liquefied natural gas projects in Australia. The company won the Best RFID Implementation Award for its work to deploy Atlas RFID Solutions’ Jovix system in the state of Queensland, Bechtel announced Tuesday. […] More

ATK will provide hardware to the United Launch Alliance for the Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles under a potential $178 million subcontract. ATK said Wednesday the order is for the U.S. Air Force‘s Phase 1 Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program and includes large composite structures such as payload adapters, interstages and nose cones. ULA is a 50-50 joint venture of Boeing […] More

Curtiss-Wright‘s defense solutions unit will provide Ethernet switches to the United Launch Alliance for Atlas V and Delta IV rockets under a $2 million contract, Military & Aerospace Electronics reported Friday. John Keller writes the Lockheed Martin and Boeing joint venture selected Curtiss-Wright’s rugged commercial off-the-shelf Parvus DuraNET 3000 for the U.S. Air Force‘s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program. ULA will use the switch pre-launch […] More

NASA‘s commercial partners have completed the design reviews of their respective spacecraft and rockets intended for the agency’s program to transport mission crews to low-Earth orbit. Blue Origin, Boeing, Sierra Nevada and Space Exploration Technology continue to develop space transportation systems and prepare for tests in 2014 under the second round of their commercial crew […] More

A team of Air Force engineers and technicians have embedded a Lockheed Martin-built satellite into a military payload fairing ahead of a scheduled space launch April 3. The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Block 5D weather satellite is designed to help military forecasters monitor global weather systems and transmit data to deployed troops, Lockheed said Thursday. Sue […] More

Lockheed Martin‘s commercial launch services business will offer a refund or a reflight service to customers if any space launch vehicle malfunction occurs. The program is subject to certain exceptions and applies to all non-U.S. government space launch service contracts, Lockheed said Tuesday. LMCLS launched the program to eliminate the need for customers to negotiate […] More

An Aerojet Rocketdyne-made propulsion system worked to lift off an Atlas V rocket that carried a NASA communications satellite into space recently. Aerojet Rocketdyne provided 12 monopropellant thrusters, helium presurrization tanks and the RL10A-4-2 engine used on the rocket’s Centaur upper-stage structure, the company said Friday. NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite spacecraft launched from […] More

Sierra Nevada Corp. wants to procure a United Launch Alliance-built rocket as the company prepares for an orbital flight in November 2016. Sierra Nevada will also establish an operation site at NASA Kennedy Space Center where its Dream Chaser spacecraft will be launched into space aboard an Atlas V rocket, NASA said Thursday. “SNC is […] More

Boeing’s tracking and data relay satellite has transmitted its first signals from space after its launch on Jan. 23. The TDRS-L is the fifth satellite that Boeing built for various NASA operations involving the International Space Station, researches on the Earth’s climate and deep space study using the Hubble Telescope, Boeing said Thursday. Craig Cooning, […] More