Masten Space Systems has secured a prime contract to help the U.S. Air Force adopt a new method of sending supplies to U.S. special operation forces.

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Masten Space Systems joined NASA and Air Force Research Laboratory to test a rocket engine powered by liquid methane.

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NASA has tested the future Mars rover’s camera-based navigation system aboard a rocket-powered test platform built by Masten Space Systems. The agency said Tuesday Xombie carried a prototype of the Mars 2020 rover’s Lander Vision System 1,066 feet into the air to perform a precise landing at a predesignated target. LVS works to direct a spacecraft to land at a target site or divert […] More

NASA has added Virgin Galactic and Masten Space Systems as awardees on a $45M multiple-award contract to help the agency test payloads on suborbital reusable launch vehicles as part of the Flight Opportunities program.

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Rick Weiss, a spokesperson for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, has said Cape Canaveral in Florida will serve as the site for flight tests and launch operations for a hypersonic aircraft to be developed under DARPA“™s Experimental Spaceplane program, Spaceflight Now reported Tuesday. DARPA partnered with Boeing in May to build an unmanned reusable spaceplane – […] More

Masten Space Systems has completed an environmental monitoring experiment that carried multiple technologies onboard a company-built reusable rocket. NASA said Thursday Masten Space Systems’ Xodiac rocket contained an electromagnetic field measurement experiment, called JANUS, from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. The company is one of six firms that provide suborbital reusable launch vehicle flight and payload integration services […] More

Northrop Grumman seeks to introduce its reusable unmanned spaceplane prototype to the commercial satellite launch market even as the company works on its design for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Experimental Spaceplane-1 program, Flightglobal reported Thursday. James Drew writes that Doug Young, vice president of space systems resiliency at Northrop, told Flightglobal the company plans to continue developing its XS-1 concept […] More

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and its industry partners will transition into the second phase of a program to build a reusable unmanned spaceplane that can carry satellites into space. DARPA said Thursday it will hold a proposers day April 29 in Arlington, Virginia for phase two of Experimental Spaceplane-1, a program to develop a spaceplane that can carry payloads […] More

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Masten Space Systems around $19.5 million in contract funds to continue building prototype robotic spaceplanes, Space.com reported Friday. Mike Wall writes the three companies moved into phase 1B of the agency’s Experimental Spaceplane-1 development initiative. Boeing and Northrop received $4 million each […] More

Lunar Outpost, Masten Space Systems and ispace's Europe and Japan businesses have received contracts totaling $25K to obtain rock samples on the lunar surface as part of a NASA program to support deep-space missions.

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NASA has awarded contracts worth $45.5M combined to study and develop human lander prototypes in the next six months in support of its Artemis lunar exploration initiative. The space agency said Friday the companies will produce prototypes of a human landing platform with descent, ascent, transfer and refueling elements and shoulder at least 20 percent of the total development cost under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships Appendix E contracts.

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NASA has extended its partnership agreements with Astrobotic Technology, Masten Space Systems and Moon Express to further develop technologies designed to transport payload cargo to the moon’s surface. The space agency said Tuesday it amended the original Space Act Agreements between NASA and its three industry partners to extend the performance for work by two years. All three companies have supported […] More