The Department of Commerce announced that it has entered into a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms with Rocket Lab, the parent company of space power provider SolAero Technologies, to support the development of a more robust and resilient supply of space-grade solar cells for use on spacecraft. Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab, […]
KBR Wyle Services has secured a NASA contract valued at up to $75.3 million to provide critical safety and mission assurance services. Under the Safety and Mission Assurance, Audits, Assessments and Analysis Services cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, which also has an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity provision, KBR Wyle Services will work with NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. alongside various NASA […]
BlackSky Technology announced that it has secured a new one-year subscription contract from the National Reconnaissance Office for high-frequency Earth imaging and analytics services. The subscription renewal is aligned with a task order that BlackSky received in May 2022 under the NRO’s Electro-Optical Commercial Layer ordering system, which provides a five-year base and five one-year […]
NASA has tapped Amentum Services to provide mission-critical services at its Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The Fully Integrated Lifecycle Mission Support Services 2 contract, valued at up to $256 million, encompasses a two-year base period with the possibility of three one-year extensions, NASA said. Under the contract that combines cost-plus-fixed-fee core requirements […]
NASA is sponsoring 10 new studies conducted by aerospace companies and internal research centers to develop cost-effective and faster ways to return Martian samples collected by the Perseverance rover to Earth under the Mars Sample Return Program. The selected companies include Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Blue Origin, Quantum Space, Northrop Grumman and Whittinghill Aerospace, […]
NASA has announced the appointment of Jonathan Lunine as chief scientist of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, effective Aug. 16. Lunine, who has a doctorate in planetary science from the California Institute of Technology, serves as a physical sciences professor and chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. In his new role, he will guide […]
Blue Canyon Technologies, a subsidiary of RTX specializing in small satellite manufacturing, has established communications with two cube satellites built for NASA’s Polar Radiant Energy in the Far InfraRed Experiment mission. Designed to measure Earth’s heat emissions from the polar regions, PREFIRE aims to improve climate and ice modeling, Blue Canyon said. The mission, managed […]
Bryon McClain, the Space Systems Command’s program executive officer for space domain awareness and combat power, said Spacecom is considering concepts for smaller spacecraft to augment the satellite constellation under the U.S. Space Force’s Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program. The command’s solicitation for satellite ideas, issued in March, also specifies maneuverable spacecraft with different sensors […]
Terran Orbital has added its Nebula and Ambassador micro space vehicle platforms to the NASA Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition IV On-Ramp III contract, which already offers the 6U Triumph and 12U Renegade cubesats to government agencies. Marc Bell, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Terran Orbital, said that expanding the company’s role in the Rapid IV program […]
The Hubble Space Telescope could soon operate on a single gyroscope as NASA extends its life without the need for commercial servicing. On Tuesday, the U.S. space agency announced that one of the Hubble’s remaining gyros “failed and could not be restored.” The development left the spacecraft with two working gyros, prompting NASA to activate […]
