Dynetics and Blue Origin filed protests with the Government Accountability Office, contesting NASA’s decision to award the Human Landing System contract to SpaceX. NASA was initially open to awarding the contract to two companies but budget shortfalls forced the space agency to settle with a single contractor to build the lunar landing system. SpaceX had […]
The U.S. Space Force is looking to set up a National Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio next year. Maj. Gen. Leah Lauderback, the Space Force’s director for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, told Signal Magazine that the NSIC will be the nation’s center of excellence for understanding foreign space and counterspace […]
The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps want to provide their soldiers with the ability to receive information from space, according to a top Space Force official. Gen. David Thompson, vice chief of space operations, said the Army and the Space Force are discussing how they can fund and operationalize space-based capabilities for combat, […]
NASA has released a statement welcoming President Joe Biden’s plan to nominate Margaret Vo Schaus, a career member of the Senior Executive Service, for the role of NASA chief financial officer. NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk said he looks forward to working with Schaus on executing the agency’s budget of more than $20 billion. “The chief financial […]
The NASA Langley Research Center has issued a request for information to solicit feedback on how it should transform its approach to procuring research, science and engineering services. The RFI aligns with NASA’s goals of establishing clearly defined enterprise requirements and deliverables, streamlining acquisition practices and business processes and reducing redundant and duplicative contracts. It […]
Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, an engineering services company, has been awarded more than $30 million in follow-on awards to previous contracts to support space-based national security efforts. The company said it will implement technologies to improve system performance. No other details were released due to competitive, customer-related and other considerations, Kratos said Wednesday. Phil […]
The U.S. Space Force has given Northrop Grumman and Boeing the green light to proceed with the development of jam-resistant communications payloads for the Protected Tactical SATCOM program. Work on the payloads began last year following the award of three prototype design contracts with a combined value of $684 million to Northrop, Boeing and Lockheed […]
The Space Development Agency is conducting market research to inform how it should acquire Tranche 1 capabilities for the multi-layer National Defense Space Architecture. In addition to procuring satellites for Tranche 1, the SDA seeks supplementary constellation management and subnetwork management systems, as well as launch, checkout and early operations support, transition operational support and […]
Gen. James Dickinson, commander of the U.S. Space Command, has raised concerns about the growing number of satellites orbiting the Earth, citing potential safety problems and access restrictions to the space domain. Speaking before members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Dickinson attributed the congestion in space to commercial activity, with companies such as SpaceX, […]
American Pacific, an aviation chemicals manufacturer, has announced a minority interest in space propulsion company Frontier Aerospace. Frontier Aerospace is a provider of end-to-end space propulsion research headquartered in Simi Valley, California. The company was founded in 1997 by its president, Jim McKinnon, a former propulsion engineer at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, AE Industrial Partners […]
