NASA has announced the first successful data exchange between the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration system and a terminal payload on the International Space Station. The test’s goal was to demonstrate how optical communications in geosynchronous orbit can benefit missions like the ISS, NASA said Wednesday. The space station received the Integrated LCRD Low Earth Orbit User Modem and […]
ASRC Federal has announced a subcontractor position worth up to $124 million on a potential five-year, $719 million NASA contract held by Space Networks Solutions, a KBR-Intuitive Machines joint venture that does business as Space & Technology Solutions. The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity Omnibus Multidiscipline Engineering Services III contract is intended to support the Joint Polar Satellite System […]
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has combined two programs designed to develop cislunar space situational awareness capabilities into a single system. The Oracle family of systems includes the original Oracle system, now called Oracle Prime, and Oracle Mobility, previously known as Defense Deep Space Sentinel. The two systems would allow military, civilian and contractor […]
Col. Robert Davis, the Space Systems Command’s program executive officer for space sensing, said the U.S. Space Force will conduct new market research in 2024 to seek ways for commercial weather services to provide more data for military requirements. According to Davis, the Space Sensing Office is planning a six-to-12-month study, which will include a […]
NASA and its partners are on track to deploy three new space stations on the low-Earth orbit. Angela Hart, manager of the commercial low earth orbit development program, said the space agency has made significant progress on better understanding the needs of specific hardware and processes and plans to start reviewing comprehensive designs in 2024. […]
The Space Systems Command has activated its Positioning, Navigation and Timing System Delta and Electromagnetic Warfare System Delta to complement the U.S. Space Force’s Integrated Mission Deltas. According to the SSC, the two units will maximize the new IMDs, which focus on such mission areas as position and navigation instead of functional fields, like intelligence […]
The U.S. Space Force, U.S. European Command and the U.S. Africa Command have activated a new service component designed to help develop and expand space capabilities. US Space Forces Europe and Africa is a Space Force unit under EUCOM and AFRICOM responsible for satellite navigation, communications, integration with NATO allies and partners and other space-based […]
NASA has selected six companies to demonstrate their prototype robotic systems designed to navigate through the lunar south pole. The six companies were chosen through NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge, conceived in 2020 to identify novel solutions that can collect samples from the lunar south pole for further studies. The six, all from the […]
The Space Development Agency’s goal onward from September 2024 is to send 161 satellites into space in less than a year, SDA Director Derek Tournear said at the National Security Space Association’s online SpaceTime Series on Thursday. The target starting that month is “an 11-launch campaign over 11 months, one launch a month,” Tournear disclosed. […]
El Segundo, California-based Pacific Defense has announced a 39-month, $9.4 million Phase II contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Control Technology Branch to finish work on the Moonraker system. Intended for a cislunar space situational awareness mission, Moonraker is a low size, weight and power sensor built with a modular open systems approach, […]
