Space News

Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance, told Ars Technica in an interview published Wednesday that the company expects to launch a national security payload aboard the ULA-built Vulcan rocket in 2022. He said ULA plans to perform certification flights in 2021 under the launch services agreement with the U.S. Air Force. “And we intend […] More

Collins Aerospace, a company formed by Rockwell Collins and United Technologies Corp.’s aerospace systems business, has designed a waste management platform that decreases the volume of space trash by 93 percent. The firm said Wednesday it developed the concept of an integrated Trash Compaction and Processing System as part of NASA’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 […] More

A General Dynamics business unit and NASA have completed a laboratory assessment of new ground infrastructure systems designed to help the agency manage a constellation of tracking and data relay satellites. General Dynamics Mission Systems supported the final system acceptance test at a facility in Scottsdale, Ariz., as part of the Space Network Ground Segment Sustainment project, the company […] More

Steve Isakowitz, president and CEO of Aerospace Corp., has said adopting a flexible architecture can help the U.S. military and industry update satellites with a new payload or augment constellations, SpaceNews reported Monday. He told the publication in an interview the government should use an enterprise-level approach and simplify the decision-making process to manage the country’s […] More

A laser altimeter instrument Maxar Technologies‘ MDA subsidiary built for a NASA space probe has began to scan and collect data of the asteroid Bennu. MDA provided the light detection and ranging sensor technology that currently supports the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer under a contract with the Canadian space agency, Maxar said Monday. NASA launched the spacecraft in […] More

NASA and SpaceX have changed the target date for an uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station as part of the space agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Both parties agreed to reschedule Demo-1 launch to Jan. 17 in a move to accommodate the return of the Dragon cargo ship from the company’s 16th resupply mission, NASA said Friday. SpaceX […] More

NASA has received a space-based spectrometer Ball Aerospace built to help researchers identify sources of pollutants in the atmosphere and predict quality of air. Ball said Friday it handed the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution instrument over to NASA after completing a final acceptance review. TEMPO is designed to operate in geostationary orbit and report hourly measurements of […] More

NASA seeks market information on flight systems for use with a solar-terrestrial observer spacecraft in support of a potential 2025 mission. The single-spacecraft Solar-Terrestrial Observer for Reconnection in the Magnetosphere mission is intended to study global solar wind phenomena and identify the functions of reconnection and particle acceleration, the space agency said Friday in a FedBizOpps […] More

SpaceX‘s Dragon spacecraft reached the International Space Station on Saturday to deliver approximately over 5.6K pounds of crew supplies and research payloads. The spacecraft launched from Florida via SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday, Dec. 5, as part of its 16th Commercial Resupply Services mission with NASA, the agency said Saturday. Dragon is set to return to Earth in January with […] More

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft lifted off Wednesday aboard its Falcon 9 rocket to bring over 5.6K pounds of supplies and research payloads to the International Space Station. The launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida marks the company’s 16th mission to ISS under NASA‘s Commercial Resupply Services contract, the agency said Thursday. Dragon carried the Global Ecosystem Dynamics […] More

United Launch Alliance is scheduled to launch a new National Reconnaissance Office payload Friday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a Delta IV Heavy rocket. The NROL-71 mission will take off at 11:19 p.m. Eastern time as part of the agency’s national defense efforts, ULA said Wednesday. Delta IV Heavy is designed to carry more than 14,000 pounds of […] More