John Plumb, the assistant secretary of defense for space policy, said at the recent Aspen Security Conference in Colorado that the Department of Defense is working to ensure the resilience of its satellites. To this end, the DOD has adopted an architecture involving proliferated satellites in low Earth orbit, which offers two advantages over the […]
The scientific journal Nature has published a NASA study that used a spectrometer aboard the Perseverance rover to study the chemical composition of Martian rocks. Agency researchers are looking for molecular traces that indicate Mars had the capacity to support biological life. NASA said in a press release that the instrument, called Scanning Habitable Environments […]
Amazon is planning to build a $120 million satellite construction facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in support of the Project Kuiper constellation. The satellite internet architecture is designed as a competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, which now has over 4,000 spacecraft providing satellite communications to customers in various sectors. Amazon’s new establishment will […]
Geospatial intelligence provider Intermap Technologies has received a contract to provide the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA’s Artemis III mission with NEXTMap elevation data and precision radar imagery. NEXTMap provides 3D digital elevation models to government and commercial customers. Intermap CEO and Chairman Patrick Blott said his company’s products, unlike extrapolated synthetic data, will enable […]
ASRC Facilities Logistics, a subsidiary of ASRC Federal, has awarded Parsons a subcontract to support the repairs, operation, maintenance and engineering work at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia. NASA had selected ASRC Facilities Logistics to provide the services beginning on Aug. 1 under a potential […]
KBR has secured a potential nine-year, $1.93 billion indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide support services for NASA space exploration missions. Work under the Integrated Mission Operations Contract III involves avionics and software support, capability development, and the provision of spaceflight operations products and services. The contract will benefit the NASA Johnson Space Center Flight Operations Directorate, […]
Jody Singer, the director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, will retire on July 29, ending her nearly four decades of service. Singer has served as the center’s director since 2018. In the said role, she expanded the organization’s portfolio to include human lunar landing and cargo systems, among other technologies, NASA said. Under her […]
The Air Force Research Laboratory has postponed the launch of its Navigation Technology Satellite-3 to the second quarter of 2024 because of the delayed debut of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. According to ULA, it delayed the Vulcan Centaur’s debut to fix a testing issue discovered in March. ULA CEO Tory Bruno said the […]
SpaceWERX, the U.S. Space Force’s innovation arm, recently hosted a Tactically Responsive Space Challenge Definition Workshop in Las Vegas to kickstart an effort to acquire faster orbital defense capabilities by 2026. Present at the two-day event were military end-users of such technology and subject matter experts from the public, private and academic sectors. The event […]
The White House has selected Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, the commander of Space Operations Command, as its nominee to be the next leader of U.S. Space Command. If confirmed by the Senate, Whiting would replace Gen. James Dickinson, who has served as SPACECOM’s commander since August 2020, C4ISRNET reported. As SpOC commander, Whiting leads the […]
