The National Reconnaissance Office has launched three classified satellites via a Northrop Grumman Minotaur I rocket from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The satellites are part of the NROL-111 mission and were launched to support the agency’s overhead surveillance operations, C4ISRNET reported. “NROL-111 is the 16th payload we put on orbit in 18 […]
NASA is asking for additional funding from Congress to finance a second space launch service provider for the Artemis program’s lunar lander. In early April, NASA announced that SpaceX would serve as its sole provider of space launch services for the Human Landing System, reasoning that the mission’s $850 million could only afford an award […]
SpaceX will launch a GPS 3 satellite aboard a refurbished Falcon 9 booster on June 17. The Space Force initially preferred an expendable rocket but allowed the use of a refurbished booster provided it was the same one that launched another GPS 3 satellite in November 2020, SpaceNews reported. Walter Lauderdale, deputy mission director of […]
The United States and several allied nations are developing a satellite-based quantum encryption network based on existing private-sector technology. The Federated Quantum System is expected to enable secure communications among the militaries of the United States, Japan, Canada, Italy, Belgium, Austria and the United Kingdom, SpaceNews reported. FQS will be based on the commercial encryption […]
The U.S. Space Command is seeking an additional $67 million as part of its fiscal year 2022 unfunded priority list to fully meet operational needs and improve capabilities and tech development efforts. Of the requested amount, $26.8 million is being earmarked to allow USSPACECOM to achieve full operational capability. According to USSPACECOM Commander Gen. James […]
NASA wants to obtain proposals for two upcoming private astronaut missions to the International Space Station. The space agency plans to host the first mission between the fall of 2022 and mid-2023 and the second between mid-2023 and the end of that year. Both missions may go on for up to 14 days, with the […]
The Space Force is scheduled to conduct a technology demonstration of a monitoring satellite designed to provide space domain awareness and shorten mission planning timelines. Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond, a two-time Wash100 awardee, said the TacRL-2 mission satellite will be launched on June 13 on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket released […]
The Senate, via a 68-32 vote, has approved the U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness Act, which includes legislation granting more than $10 billion to support NASA’s Human Landing System program. Funding authorized by the NASA bill will be used to finance a second HLS contractor and the existing $2.9 billion lunar lander development contract awarded to […]
The head of the U.S. Northern Command has requested $79.8 million for the commands’ unfunded priority list, which contains items that did not make the cut for the Department of Defense’s annual budget request. According to Gen. Glen VanHerck’s request, USNORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command would use the funding to finance experiments […]
The Government Accountability Office said in a recent report that challenges relating to the development of the main engine of United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan rocket could lead to non-compliance with a congressional mandate to end reliance on the Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine by 2022. ULA’s Vulcan launch vehicle, powered by Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine, […]
