Space

Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket is a year away from its maiden flight, but prime contractor ArianeGroup is already preparing upgrades its says can be introduced in the launcher’s first three years of service. The 3.6-billion-euro Ariane 6 program, funded 89% by the European Space Agency and 11% by ArianeGroup and its industry partners, is on

HOUSTON — The announcement this week by the head of the Federal Communications Commission that he will seek a public action of satellite C-band spectrum is unlikely to be the final word in that debate, industry officials believe. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced Nov. 18 that he will propose the commission conduct a public auction

Top acquisition executive Will Roper said the Air Force will amend the solicitation “to make clear that each award will be made solely on the basis of the defined criteria.” WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force will change the criteria for evaluating launch providers that have submitted proposals for the National Security Space Launch program,

HOUSTON — As NASA adds new companies to a commercial lunar landing services program, some existing participants worry its value to them may now be diminished. NASA announced Nov. 18 that it had selected five companies to join the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, a NASA initiative to purchase rides on commercial lunar landers

BREMEN, Germany – Development of spaceplanes for suborbital tourism, satellite launches and point-to-point terrestrial transportation are benefiting from advanced technology, panelists said at the Space Tech Expo Europe here. “It was completely different 30 years ago,” said Koichi Yonemoto, co-founder and chief technical officer of Space Walker, a Japanese startup developing a suborbital spaceplane to

The moon has formed the isolated backdrop for a new era of space exploration. As you read this, there are teams of exploration advocates around the world striving to reach its surface. This goal may be accomplished as early as next year. This new age is one that is being led not by spacefaring superpowers

BREMEN, Germany – Capella Space won a U.S. Air Force contract to adapt its commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for military applications. Capella won the $750,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 contract for its presentation at Air Force Space Pitch Day, a competition in San Francisco in early November to identify commercial technology

HOUSTON — The first prototype of SpaceX’s next-generation launch system was damaged Nov. 20 during a tanking test, a setback the company claimed would not serious affect their development plans. Video from several observers in the vicinity of SpaceX’s test site in Boca Chica, Texas, near Brownsville, showed a white plume erupt from the top

Spacety, a privately-owned Chinese satellite company founded in 2016 is expanding its product line as it continues in-orbit technology demonstrations. The firm, with 70 employees working in Changsha and Beijing, has nine missions and 15 satellites in orbit. Feng Yang, Spacety CEO and founder, talked with SpaceNews about his plans for small synthetic aperture radar

HOUSTON — The government of Brazil is ready to move into the next phase of efforts to attract commercial launch business to the country with the ratification of an agreement with the United States. Brazil’s Senate formally approved Nov. 12 a technology safeguards agreement that the country’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, signed in March during a

The report titled ”Iran Military Power” is part of a Defense Intelligence Agency effort to inform government leaders and the public on major foreign military challenges. WASHINGTON — The Defense Intelligence Agency released a new unclassified report that highlights Iran’s space program as a means to advance that nation’s civilian and military technologies. The report

BREMEN, Germany — Portugal’s newly created space agency is considering a national constellation focused on maritime activity in the Atlantic Ocean.  Luís Serina, the Portuguese Space Agency’s industrial relations and projects officer, said Portugal, as a coastal nation, is concerned about illegal fishing, maritime piracy and ocean pollution, among other topics.  “We are putting some

WASHINGTON — NASA announced Nov. 18 that it was adding five companies to a contract to perform commercial deliveries of payloads to the surface of the moon, a group that ranges from small ventures to Blue Origin and SpaceX. NASA said the five companies — Blue Origin, Ceres Robotics, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), SpaceX and

BREMEN, Germany — FCC Chairman Ajit Pai informed Congress Nov. 18 that the agency will run a public auction of C-band spectrum instead of allowing a consortium of satellite operators to sell it directly to 5G wireless operators.  Satellite operators Intelsat, SES and Telesat, acting as the C-Band Alliance, have been lobbying the Federal Communications

WASHINGTON — Satellite operators Intelsat, SES and Telesat on Nov. 15 detailed how they would calculate the proceeds they have pledged to contribute to the U.S. treasury if the Federal Communications Commission accepts their proposal to privately auction C-band spectrum sought by 5G network operators.  The satellite operators, acting collectively as the C-Band Alliance, would

Maj. Gen. Stephen Whiting said the transfer of space traffic management responsibilities can’t happen until Commerce gets the necessary resources. WASHINGTON — Military space operators at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, are working with the Department of Commerce to help ease the transfer of space traffic management responsibilities, Maj. Gen. Stephen Whiting said Nov. 15.

WASHINGTON — With growing bipartisan skepticism that NASA’s current plan to return humans to the moon by 2024 is achievable, members of the House Science Committee used a Nov. 13 hearing to advocate for a different, and arguably more conventional, approach. In statements at a hearing of the committee’s space subcommittee on human exploration of

WASHINGTON —  Loft Orbital has raised a fresh $13 million to continue development of a constellation of small satellites purpose-built to carry a mix of payloads for customers who don’t want to fly their own satellites.  Foundation Capital led the Series A round with participation from Kima Ventures, Cendana Capital, Swell Partners, and GFA Ventures,

SDA is the new term replacing Space Situational Awareness, according to an Oct. 4 memo from Air Force Space Command. WASHINGTON — The Air Force Space Command has introduced a new buzz phrase for space professionals: Space Domain Awareness. SDA is the new term for what used to be SSA, or Space Situational Awareness, Air

WASHINGTON — Exos Aerospace said the failed launch of a reusable suborbital sounding rocket last month was caused by a structural failure of the rocket shortly after liftoff. In a statement released by the Texas-based company Nov. 14, Exos said its Suborbital Autonomous Rocket with GuidancE, or SARGE, rocket was lost 48 seconds after its

The 10-year contract is for operations and support of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency, Milstar and Defense Satellite Communications System constellations. WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $3.3 billion contract for support services on classified military communications satellites, the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center announced Nov. 15. The 10-year indefinite-delivery

WASHINGTON — NASA’s inspector general warned in a new report that, because of commercial crew delays, utilization of the International Space Station will drop sharply in 2020 and that NASA runs the risk of losing access entirely by next fall. The Nov. 14 report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) concluded that, because of

WASHINGTON — NASA paid Boeing nearly $300 million more than originally planned in its commercial crew contract in part because of agency concerns that the company might drop out of the program, a new report claims. The Nov. 14 report on the commercial crew program by NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) highlighted several issues

WASHINGTON — EchoStar has ordered two tiny S-band satellites from Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems to jumpstart a low-Earth-orbit constellation using spectrum gained through its October acquisition of IoT startup Helios Wire.  Anders Johnson, Echostar’s president, said during a Nov. 7 earnings call that EchoStar has signed contracts for the construction and launch of a first batch of

WASHINGTON — SpaceX successfully tested Nov. 13 the thrusters used as part of the abort system for its Crew Dragon spacecraft, nearly seven months after a similar test resulted in the loss of another spacecraft. The test of the Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco thrusters took place shortly after 3 p.m. Eastern at Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX,

WASHINGTON — The Senate Commerce Committee approved Nov. 13 a NASA authorization bill introduced a week earlier to extend the life of the International Space Station and support other agency programs. The committee approved, on a voice vote, the NASA Authorization Act of 2019. That bill, S.2800, was introduced Nov. 6 by a bipartisan group

Chairman Adam Smith said the House-Senate divide is deepening over the establishment of a Space Force WASHINGTON — House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said Nov. 13 that negotiations on the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act are “proceeding reasonably well” but he expressed doubt that the NDAA will include language to authorize a

HELSINKI — China launched six remote sensing satellites into orbit with two launches inside three hours from sites in north China. A commercial Kuaizhou-1A solid rocket lifted off from a transporter erector launcher at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, northwest China, at 10:40 p.m. Eastern Tuesday. The payload was the Jilin-1 Gaofen-2A optical Earth observation

WASHINGTON — Two astronauts are set to begin a series of spacewalks this week to repair an instrument outside the International Space Station that was never designed to be serviced in orbit. At a pair of Nov. 12 press conferences, officials said that NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano are

Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper said an extended CR is especially damaging for space “where we are trying to build systems to be survivable.” WASHINGTON — With no end to the budget impasse in sight, Pentagon officials are warning that procurements across the board will suffer significant delays. The Air Force is especially concerned

The senior secured loan will help fund BlackSky’s infrastructure and product development. WASHINGTON — Geospatial data provider BlackSky announced Nov. 12 it has secured a $50 million loan from global communications satellite operator Intelsat. The senior secured loan will finance BlackSky’s infrastructure and product development for commercial and government customers, BlackSky CEO Brian O’Toole told

WASHINGTON — A NASA space telescope recently completed a major review and is making good progress, project officials say, despite uncertainty about its funding. NASA announced Nov. 1 that the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) passed its preliminary design review (PDR), a major milestone in the development of the space-based observatory. That overall PDR came

In October, we asked SpaceNews readers to vote on the finalists for this year’s SpaceNews Awards for Excellence and Innovation. More than 40,000 votes were cast by the time the poll closed Nov. 1. The  Readers’ Choice Award winners named below will be honored at our 3rd annual awards luncheon Dec. 10 in Washington along

WASHINGTON — The Russian company that markets launch vehicles commercially says it doesn’t expect the new Soyuz-5 medium-lift rocket to be available until the mid-2020s, despite leveraging existing designs and facilities. In an interview during the International Astronautical Congress Oct. 24, Evgeny Solodovnikov, sales director of GK Launch Services, says the Soyuz-5 rocket, whose design

SAN FRANCISCO — Ursa Space Systems, a geospatial analytics company specializing in applications for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, raised $15 million in a Series B funding round led by Razor’s Edge Ventures. With the additional funding announced Nov. 7, Ithaca, New York-based Ursa plans create new data products. “We’re seeing a number of new

DoD wants to increase awareness of the threats the nation faces in space but classification is a problem. RESTON, Va. — The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency said it’s not a matter of if, but when anti-satellite weapons developed by China and Russia take aim at U.S. spacecraft. “These capabilities exist now,” Army Lt.

WASHINGTON — Boeing said Nov. 7 that a misplaced pin prevented a parachute from deploying during a pad abort test of its CST-100 Starliner vehicle three days earlier, the only flaw in a key test of that commercial crew vehicle. In a call with reporters, John Mulholland, vice president and program manager for commercial crew

WASHINGTON — OneWeb has delayed the beginning of its regular launch campaign by a month to allow more testing of its small broadband satellites.  “We are taking the utmost care to prepare for launch and therefore are taking a few extra weeks to conduct additional tests on the satellites which will be shipped in December

WASHINGTON — Telesat Canada will likely choose the winner of a now three-way race to build its low Earth orbit broadband constellation in the first few months of 2020 instead of this year, CEO Dan Goldberg said Nov. 5.  Goldberg, in an earnings call, said Telesat still anticipates having 200 satellites orbiting in 2022 and

The Infrastructure Asset Pre-Assessment (IA-Pre) program will be run by the Air Force Space Command’s commercial satellite communications office. RESTON, Va. — The Air Force starting in 2020 will rate the cybersecurity of commercial satellite communications providers in an effort to increase the protection of military networks. The new program is called Infrastructure Asset Pre-Assessment

WASHINGTON — A NASA astronaut flying to the International Space Station next spring could be the only American on the station for an extended period because of uncertainty in the status of commercial crew vehicles. NASA announced Oct. 30 that Chris Cassidy will fly to the station next April on a Soyuz spacecraft with Russian

WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency is considering programs to make Vega light-lift rockets more competitive, according to the chief executive of Vega manufacturer Avio.  Avio CEO Giulio Ranzo said during a Nov. 7 earnings call that Vega is on track for a return to flight by March, though what payload will launch on the

SAN FRANCISCO – Fiber Optic Manufacturing in Space (FOMS) Inc. presented the results Nov. 7 of its successful campaign to produce optical fiber on the International Space Station. FOMS “successfully completed the calibration of the manufacturing hardware and demonstrated the first optical fiber manufacturing on orbit,” FOMS Principal Investigator Dmitry Starodubov announced at the 6th Workshop

WASHINGTON — The White House warned Congress in a recent letter that without funding increases for its exploration programs, NASA won’t be able to achieve the goal of landing humans on the moon in 2024. The Oct. 23 letter from Russell Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to Sen. Richard

DIU received 25 proposals for the Dismounted Assured PNT System WASHINGTON — The Defense Innovation Unit’s Boston office is reviewing vendor proposals for handheld navigation devices that don’t rely on Global Positioning System satellite signals. They would be used by U.S. Army soldiers in future military conflicts when they expect GPS signals to be disrupted.

SAN FRANCISCO – U.S. Air Force leaders emphasized their commitment to quick acquisition of innovative commercial technologies by awarding a total of $9 million to 12 companies on the first Air Force Space Pitch Day here Nov. 5. Each of the 12 companies received a $750,000 check and signed contract on the spot during the

WASHINGTON — The U.K. Space Agency will provide $9.5 million for infrastructure at a British airport that seeks to host Virgin Orbit’s air-launch system. The U.K. Space Agency announced Nov. 5 that it will provide £7.35 million ($9.5 million) to Virgin Orbit U.K. Ltd., the U.K. branch of Virgin Orbit, for launch support equipment and

The Air Force wants to work with multiple satellite broadband providers that are currently building LEO constellations WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force has been testing commercial space internet services and so far it likes what it sees. A program known as Defense Experimentation Using the Commercial Space Internet, or DEUCSI, recently tried out SpaceX’s