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 […]
NASA has chosen “Dating an Irregular Mare Patch with a Lunar Explorer” under the Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon effort, which facilitates lunar research by sending up suites of scientific instruments via the Commercial Lunar Payload Services. The DIMPLE instrument, which was chosen under the third annual PRISM call for […]
The U.S. Space Force has posted a modified draft solicitation for the third phase of the National Security Space Launch program. The original draft of the request for proposals released in February informed the industry of the Space Force’s intent to award five-year Lane 2 military satellite deployment contracts to two launch providers; however, the […]
Peraton has secured a NASA follow-on contract for suborbital flight operations support for the Wallops Flight Facility. Under the Sounding Rocket Operations IV contract, Peraton will design, fabricate, integrate and perform flight qualification tests for suborbital payloads. The company will also provide vehicles, hardware and support needed for launch services. Work on the contract will […]
NASA has called off Janus, a mission to investigate binary asteroids using two small satellites. The two spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin and the University of Colorado Boulder, are expected to be stored at an agency facility until an application arises. Daniel Scheeres, principal investigator for Janus at CU Boulder, said at a meeting on […]
NASA’s Johnson Space Center has partnered with the University of Texas Aerospace Center to establish a new facility that provides NASA’s aerospace workforce the opportunity to learn more about digital engineering and encourages students to become engineers. The Digital Engineering Design Center allows enrolled individuals to work on in-situ resource utilization-related projects, which are critical […]
The Defense Innovation Unit is working with space companies and military organizations to identify and integrate capabilities that can be used for the Hybrid Space Architecture. The program is linked to the Department of Defense’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept where it would deliver space-based internet connectivity and a reliable communications infrastructure that can […]
Five teams of security researchers will participate in the final round of the fourth Hack-A-Sat competition, during which they will launch cyberattacks targeting a newly deployed 3U cubesat, dubbed Moonlighter, which serves as a hacking sandbox in space. A SpaceX rocket launched the satellite on June 5 to the International Space Station. The ISS deployed […]
