MemComputing, a company specializing in high-performance computing, has been awarded a contract to help the U.S. Space Force address the threat of space debris to valuable assets. Existing robotics technologies are capable of deploying large space structures but are not designed to catch debris, which can threaten space systems critical to national security, MemComputing said […]
Capella Space has secured a contract to install optical communications terminals on synthetic aperture radar satellites operated by the Department of Defense. The work will start in 2022. The contract is part of a campaign to deliver data through the Space Development Agency‘s Transport Layer low-Earth orbit constellation. Capella will use communications equipment provider Mynaric‘s […]
NASA has delayed plans of landing astronauts on the lunar surface before the end of 2024, citing legal challenges and a lack of funding. Speaking at a media teleconference, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the Artemis 3 mission is now planned for no earlier than 2025. He noted, however, that a program review will have […]
Space-based data, analytics and services provider Spire Global has received an eight-year, $29 million subcontract to support aircraft research activities being performed by NASA and Harris Miller Miller & Hanson. The award is a cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract that will support the second and third phases of NASA’s Low-Boom Flight Demonstration mission. As a subcontractor, Spire […]
NASA has announced a $177 million mission aimed at studying tropical storms and thunderstorms and their impacts on weather and climate models. The mission, called Investigation of Convective Updrafts, will involve three SmallSats flying in close coordination. INCUS is scheduled to launch in 2027 as part of Earth Venture, a program aimed at helping the […]
American launch vehicle company Astra Space on Thursday filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission for approval to put into orbit a constellation of 13,620 satellites that would provide broadband services. The planned constellation would provide services at V-band frequencies, with the satellites deployed into low Earth orbit in three phases to provide global […]
Blue Origin’s lawsuit against the awarding of NASA’s Human Landing System contract to SpaceX was rejected by the Court of Federal Claims. The Jeff Bezos-led company filed the suit on Aug. 13, arguing that NASA selected SpaceX as prime contractor despite the fact that it failed to comply with language in the solicitation requiring bidders […]
The National Reconnaissance Office has asked commercial providers of satellite imagery in the United States to submit their bids under a new program called the Electro-Optical Commercial Layer. In its request for proposals, the agency said it is ushering in a new model involving multiple domestic satellite imagery suppliers to replace the current single-vendor model, SpaceNews […]
NASA is scheduled to launch on Nov. 23 its first planetary defense test mission aimed at assessing the agency’s capability to alter an asteroid’s trajectory. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test will be conducted on the small moonlet asteroid Dimorphos and its orbital companion asteroid, Didymos, neither of which poses a threat to Earth, NASA said […]
NASA is still investigating a glitch that caused Hubble Space Telescope‘s instruments to stop operating. According to a NASA statement, equipment aboard the Hubble spacecraft went into safe mode on Oct. 25. The incident affected operations but NASA stated that all instruments are in good condition. The equipment will remain in safe mode as officials […]
