Boeing subsidiary Spectrolab will manufacture, integrate and test around 4,000 NeXt Triple Junction Prime solar cells that will be used on NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Spectrolab XTJ uses multiple bandgaps that are tuned to different wavelengths in the solar spectrum, allowing it to receive higher efficiencies that are not possible with commercially available […]
Denver-headquartered aerospace company York Space Systems announced that it has been awarded a $382 million contract by the Space Development Agency to deliver 42 satellites for the Tranche 1 Transport Layer. The latest SDA order, along with five other commercial constellations, are driving demand for a rapid increase in satellite production capacity, York Space said […]
San Diego-headquartered Space Micro announced that it has been awarded by the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command a contract for the manufacture of a geostationary orbit-capable µLCT secure laser communications terminal. The new award builds on an initial development contract issued by the Air Force issued in 2019, Space Micro said Tuesday. In a […]
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Sunday announced that it has postponed the initial wet dress rehearsal for the brand-new Space Launch System rocket due to an issue with its mobile launcher. The test would have seen the giant rocket being fully loaded with fuel and undergoing a practice countdown that would be halted […]
Mounting tensions between Washington and the Kremlin over the invasion of Ukraine have not stopped the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from pursuing a seat barter agreement with its Russian counterparts. Under the proposal, Russian cosmonauts would be able to fly on NASA’s commercial crew vehicles in exchange for American astronauts flying on Soyuz spacecraft […]
Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin have completed the final full-scale ground test of the abort motor for NASA’s Orion spacecraft Launch Abort System. The motor produced 400,000 pounds of thrust in two seconds. Wendy Williams, vice president of propulsion systems at Northrop, said the motor burns three times faster than other systems of similar size, […]
NASA has tasked Raytheon Technologies subsidiary Blue Canyon Technologies to build eight X-SAT Venus microsatellites for the space agency’s HelioSwarm science mission. X-SAT Venus is an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Secondary Payload Adapter-class satellite that will help study solar winds and space plasma turbulence. The eight microsatellites will move as a swarm and will use […]
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced that its scientists have successfully managed to detect human carbon dioxide emissions changes from space using a combination of satellites and atmospheric modeling. The technology allows the identification of short-term, regional fluctuations in atmospheric CO2 across the globe due to the presence of people, NASA said Friday. In […]
California-headquartered Slingshot Aerospace announced Thursday that it had been awarded a $25.2 million contract by the U.S. Space Force to develop a virtual replica of the space environment. The company’s chief executive officer said that the contract funds the development of a “digital space twin,” which is envisioned to be a high-fidelity, physics-driven simulation that […]
American and European scientists studying the Martian surface may have to wait a few more years before receiving pristine soil and rock samples from the Red Planet. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Perseverance Rover has collected the samples from Mars’ Jezero Crater. The samples are now awaiting pickup for their trip to Earth, Space […]
