Lockheed Martin has entered the final production stage of a new Mars lander that is scheduled for launch by NASA in March 2016. The company said Monday its technicians will integrate avionics, power, telecommunication, navigation, control, guidance and thermal systems in the InSight spacecraft during the six-month assembly phase. “Physically, InSight looks very much like […] More

Lockheed Martin and the University of Arizona have teamed up to operate the United Kingdom’s Maunakea, Hawaii-based infrared telescope. The team will collaborate with NASA‘s Orbital Debris Program Office at the Johnson Space Center to study the impact of space debris on satellites and communication, Lockheed Martin said Thursday. “We plan to grow capability and continue addressing pressing questions about […] More

Louisa Jaffe and her husband Bill founded Alexandria, Virginia-headquartered government contractor Technical and Project Engineering — also known as TAPE — in 2003. Nearly a decade later, TAPE has employees in 15 states and Washington, D.C. that provide technical services and management support to federal agencies. In this conversation with ExecutiveBiz, Louisa describes where she wants TAPE […] More

Lockheed Martin‘s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft has captured the first ultraviolet images of solar energetic particle activity and a layer of ozone in Mars’ atmosphere as part of a mission for NASA. The space agency said Tuesday it is currently testing the spacecraft’s instruments ahead of the science mission, which will also study the possible causes of the planet’s loss […] More

Lockheed Martin and NASA have confirmed that the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft has entered Mars’ orbit as they prepare for MAVEN’s primary mission to collect data on gases in the planet’s upper atmosphere. NASA said Sunday that the team used data from Lockheed’s Colorado operations center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s California navigation facility to confirm orbit insertion. MAVEN, which Lockheed built, […] More

Lockheed Martin flight controllers will oversee the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft’s health and safety functions as the company and NASA prepare for MAVEN to enter Mars’ orbit on Sunday. MAVEN’s orbital insertion concludes its 10-month interplanetary mission and starts its mission to collect data on upper-atmosphere gases on Mars and their interaction with solar winds, NASA said Wednesday. “The MAVEN science mission focuses on […] More

IBM has won a contract to consolidate traffic data in Sao Paulo using analytics to provide ARTESP, the Brazilian city’s public transportation regulatory agency, with real-time insights on its highways. The project will use IBM Intelligent Transportation software to form an information control center that will gather data from the local highway administrators that cover nearly 4,000 miles of […] More

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has awarded Northrop Grumman a $3 million contract to supply the navigational system for NASA’s Solar Probe Plus satellite. Northrop will build the Scalable Space Inertial Reference Unit to help the robotic shuttle stay on its flight path using the company’s hemispherical resonator gyro technology, Northrop said Tuesday. Bob Mehltretter, vice president for […] More

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory looks to receive a National Science Foundation grant to continue its observation missions using an Iridium satellite constellation, SpaceNews reported Monday. Dan Leone writes Johns Hopkins APL is eyeing the 66-satellite Next constellation Iridium plans to launch between 2015 and 2017 under the second phase of APL’s Active Magnetosphere […] More

Jessica Nielsen serves as vice president of communications and marketing at Lockheed Martin where she is responsible for all facets of communications at the company’s Information Systems and Global Solutions division. She previously was executive director of global communications at Dell and was chief of staff to the BAE Systems group communications director from 2009-2011. Nielsen […] More

NASA‘s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted gullies on the Red Planet by using a high-resolution imaging science experiment camera that is built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. U.S. scientists examined images captured by the spacecraft’s HiRISE optical system and found that Martian gully formations occurred during seasonal carbon dioxide freezing, NASA said Thursday. “As […] More

Ball Aerospace and Technologies has received the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System instrument built by Northrop Grumman for integration into the Joint Polar Satellite System beginning later this year. Ball Aerospace said Thursday that CERES will help JPSS-1 support the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership‘s weather and climate measurement missions for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. CERES is designed to measure thermal radiation and […] More