The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is expanding the makeup of its leadership and merging departments as part of efforts to support the Biden-Harris Administration’s priorities and focus on space strategy. As part of the efforts to strengthen its organization, the Office of Strategic Engagements and Assessments and the Office of the Chief Technologist are […]
Alexander MacDonald, the chief economist at NASA, welcomed the aggressive competition among companies for space agency contracts, saying it will help make human space exploration more affordable. The official made the comments during his appearance at a TechCrunch online panel discussion. According to MacDonald, one exciting prospect, from a market dynamics perspective, is the race […]
NASA is continuing to work with a Massachusetts-based small business to develop an autonomous metal 3D printing solution in space. Under a Small Business Innovation Research contract, NASA’s Langley Research Center and COSM Advanced Manufacturing Systems are developing sensors that could allow for autonomous electron beam freeform fabrication operations. COSM will build and test a […]
The U.S. Space Force could launch up to three national security missions in 2022 via the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Missions USSF-44 and USSF-52 were originally planned to launch in 2021 but were pushed back due to payload readiness and range scheduling issues. While target launch dates have yet to be determined, the nascent service […]
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced that it has postponed the launch of its SpaceX Crew-3 mission to Wednesday due to poor weather conditions during its original launch schedule on Sunday. The mission, which will take off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is intended to transport the next commercial crew to the […]
The Space Development Agency has issued a new request for proposals for Tranche 1 Transport Layer of the National Defense Space Architecture under other transaction authorities. The solicitation covers the procurement of the 126 initial T1TL satellites, which will be launched in six stacks of 24 satellites. SDA initially wanted to pursue traditional contracting mechanisms […]
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Wednesday announced that launch preparations for its new James Webb Space Telescope have progressed into their final phases. Officials of the space agency made the comments at the 72nd International Astronautical Congress, following a recent successful launch of the Ariane 5 rocket, which will carry the JWST to […]
NASA is set to test laser-based data transfer capabilities during the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration activity in the fall. Key components of the tech testing are two ground-based facilities at two separate locations on Earth. The LCRD mission will involve two Optical Ground Stations: one in Table Mountain, California, and another in Haleakala, Hawaii. NASA […]
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has deployed a combination of aircraft, maritime vessels and various types of robots to study small ocean whirlpools, eddies and currents. The space agency launched its Sub-Mesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment to understand the role these ocean processes play in vertical transport: the movement of heat, nutrients, oxygen, and carbon […]
Firefly Aerospace is set to begin the construction of its Blue Ghost lunar lander following a successful critical design review. The Texas-based company is building Blue Ghost to fulfill requirements under a $93.3 million Commercial Lunar Payload Services contract that it received from NASA. The vehicle is scheduled to touch down on the Moon’s Mare […]
