NASA will deploy the Lunar Node-1 experiment when it launches the second Commercial Lunar Payload Service in mid-February. LN-1 is a cube satellite-sized radio beacon that supports precise geolocation and navigation observation for landers, space infrastructure and astronauts. It can also be used to aid orbital maneuvers and support spacecraft landing on the moon. LN-1 […]
Houston-based aerospace company Intuitive Machines will launch its Nova-C lunar lander in February, carrying NASA’s Navigation Doppler Lidar along with other payloads. Developed by the Langley Research Center, the NDL is designed to support spacecraft landing on extraterrestrial surfaces using light detection and ranging technology instead of traditional radar-based landing systems, potentially improving accuracy. As […]
Joseph Pelfrey has assumed the directorship of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Marshall, with 7,000 employees and contractors, manages a roughly $5 billion portfolio of human spaceflight, science and technology development programs and New Orleans’ Michoud Assembly Facility, which makes major components of the Artemis program’s Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft, […]
NASA’s Radio Frequency Mass Gauge, designed to measure fuel floating inside a spacecraft, will be tested via the IM-1 lunar landing mission, which has a reserved multi-day launch window in mid-February. The mission provides the opportunity for the first long-duration test on a standalone spacecraft for the gauge, which depends on radio waves and tank […]
NASA will send its Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem spacecraft into orbit on Feb. 6 from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex in Florida. The PACE spacecraft will carry three instruments to study the oceans, clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere. Its goal is to better understand phytoplankton on the ocean surface, including differentiating among phytoplankton […]
Tucson, Arizona-based optical sensor system company Geost has announced that it will supply 16 Mercury missile warning and tracking systems to the Space Development Agency’s Tranche 2 Tracking Layer as a subcontractor of the satellite constellation project. The company, a unit of LightRidge Solutions, secured the task order from Sierra Space, one of the three T2 Tracking Layer contractors […]
The U.S. Space Force activated the U.S. Space Forces-Space on Thursday, over a month after the organization was established. S4S is tasked with planning, integrating, conducting and assessing global space operations to ensure that the United States and its partners and allies have combat-relevant space effects. Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations at the […]
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Space Commerce has signed a no-exchange-of-funds cooperative research and development agreement with SpaceX to advance safe and automated satellite operations. Under the CRADA, the OSC will perform an astrodynamic evaluation of SpaceX’s software, particularly those used for satellite management. According to OSC Director Richard DalBello, NOAA wants […]
The Space Development Agency has awarded Momentus a contract modification to continue work on tailoring the company’s Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle to Department of Defense payloads and missions. According to John Rood, Momentus CEO, Vigoride offers flexibility, payload capacity and power suited for various national security missions, such as space situational awareness, surveillance and reconnaissance. […]
Diane Howard, the National Space Council’s head of commercial space policy, has called on the federal government to allocate funds for on-orbit satellite refueling and servicing capabilities. Speaking at the recent Space Mobility Conference, she explained that signaling demand to the private sector and international partners will require a clear strategy and “real funding” from […]
