The Artemis launch team at NASA engaged in an exercise on July 20 where they simulated the loading of cryogenic rocket propellant onto the Space Launch System. During the actual launch, the process would begin nine hours before liftoff because the fuels — liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen — are super-cooled and need to be […]
NASA has picked 11 American companies for technology development partnerships in projects to support long-term lunar and space exploration. The projects were chosen from the agency’s sixth Tipping Point opportunity, with joint funding by NASA and the industry partners. The agency is expected to contribute $150 million to the partnerships, while each company will contribute […]
Sixteen companies will compete for task orders under a potential 10-year, $900 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for proliferated low-Earth orbit satellite services. The selected vendors are Arinc, Artel, Capella Federal, BlackSky, SES Space & Defense, Hughes Network Systems, Inmarsat Government, KGS, Intelsat General Communications, OneWeb, PAR Government, RiteNet, Satcom Direct Government, SpaceX, Trace Systems and UltiSat, […]
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 […]
