Paul Selva, a retired U.S. Air Force general, and retired space executive David Thompson have been appointed chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the board of trustees at The Aerospace Corp. Selva succeeds Stephanie O'Sullivan, who concluded her term on the board, while Thompson replaces Selva in the vice chairman role, the nonprofit corporation said Thursday.

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SpaceX and SEOPS will launch small satellite missions under four task orders awarded by NASA under the Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare launch services contract. SpaceX received three of the four task orders and will provide launch services for the Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-2 satellite as well as the Dione and ARCSTONE satellites under the CubeSat Launch Initiative, the space agency said Wednesday.

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Mitre is working on multiple lines of research to enhance information sharing to support the Federal Aviation Administration's vision to enable an Info-Centric National Airspace System in 2035. Mitre, which operates the Center for Advanced Aviation System Development for the FAA, believes that advancements in commercial technologies and infrastructure that enable real-time information exchange, such as sensors, wireless networks and communications satellites, can revolutionize the future of the NAS, the not-for-profit research organization said Monday.

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The Defense Innovation Unit has begun seeking proposals from industry sources capable of developing a hybrid architecture designed to integrate government and commercial networks to enable space-based communication capabilities. DIU said the second iteration of the Hybrid Space Architecture project will focus on four areas of interest: persistent sensing, resilient data transport, high-performance edge computing and data fusion.

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Colonel Richard Kniseley boasts more than two decades of experience in the federal space sector. In his current role as the Senior Materiel Leader of the Commercial Space Office at the Space Systems Command in Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, his responsibilities focus on investing in commercial capabilities.   Col. Kniseley’s demonstrated history and […] More

Rocket Lab is planning to construct a new production and development complex in Middle River, Maryland, to manufacture advanced composite products for spacecraft and launch vehicles. The company said Friday it will renovate 113,000 square feet of space at the former Lockheed Martin Vertical Launch Building to build the new Space Structures Complex that will house the production of launch vehicle structures, carbon composite spacecraft buses, satellite dispensers and other materials used for launch and space systems.

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Jupiter 3, an ultra high density satellite operated by EchoStar company Hughes Network Systems, began undergoing over the air testing with ground systems on Nov. 16, following the deployment of its solar array and antennas and the completion of a readiness test by the space systems business of Maxar Technologies, the spacecraft's manufacturer. Hughes said Thursday the satellite will work to increase the company's broadband capacity over North and South America by 500 Gbps, particularly benefiting plans under the HughesNet satellite internet service.

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A joint venture between RTX's Raytheon business and Israel-based Rafael Advanced Defense Systems will make a $33 million investment to establish a facility in East Camden, Arkansas, to manufacture the Tamir missile for the Iron Dome weapon system and the U.S. version of the missile, dubbed SkyHunter. The Raytheon-Rafael Area Protection Systems JV will break ground on the manufacturing facility before the end of 2023 and plans to kick off missile production in 2025, RTX said Thursday.

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Scientific Systems was added to a Science Applications International Corp.-led team responsible for creating a cloud-based application factory the Space Development Agency plans to use to support its low-Earth orbit satellite constellation. Aside from development work, the team will also deploy and maintain the Battle Management Command, Control and Communications Application Factory and Secure Interoperability Layer in support of the SDA's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

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L3Harris Technologies will modernize and sustain space surveillance systems under two Department of Defense contracts worth up to $134 million. The company said Thursday it was awarded the Ground Based Optical Sensor System and Space Fence Sustainment contracts to support the Maintenance of Space Situational Awareness Integrated Capabilities program of the U.S. Space Force.

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Space Systems Command is seeking information on a new program to develop and deploy small, highly maneuverable broadband satellites to geostationary orbit to provide space-based communications support to the Department of Defense. SSC's Commercial Satellite Communications Office is looking for potential industry sources to support the launch and maintenance efforts for a constellation of microsatellites operating in the GEO arc, according to a notice posted Wednesday on SAM.gov.

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X-Bow Systems has secured a $64 million contract from the Department of Defense to supply large solid rocket motors to the U.S. Navy and Army. The SRMs will boost the propulsion of the Navy's hypersonic All Up Round system, which is a component of the Navy's Conventional Prompt Strike and the Army's Long Range Hypersonic weapon systems.

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