Space

WASHINGTON — NASA and SpaceX officials said after a final pre-launch review they had no major issues about the upcoming Demo-2 commercial crew launch beyond one over which they have no control: the weather. NASA concluded a launch readiness review May 25 for the Demo-2 mission, the final pre-launch review for a mission that will

Updated 5:00 p.m. Eastern. WASHINGTON — Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne failed to reach orbit in its first launch attempt May 25, with the mission “terminated” moments after the rocket’s release from its aircraft. The company’s “Cosmic Girl” aircraft, a modified Boeing 747, took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California at 2:56 p.m.

Raytheon and a Northrop Grumman/Ball Aerospace team designed competing sensor payloads for the Next-Gen OPIR geosynchronous satellites. WASHINGTON — Two sensor payloads for the U.S. Space Force’s new missile warning satellites have passed a key design review. One of them will be selected for the first Next-Generation Overhead Infrared satellite scheduled to launch in 2025.

The Air Force sent the report to congressional committees May 21 and notified them the next day that what they had received was not the final version. WASHINGTON — A Department of the Air Force report sent to Congress last week proposing changes to Space Force acquisition programs was an “initial version” and not the

NASA has selected three companies to begin development of lunar landers that could return astronauts to the surface of the moon as soon as 2024. The program makes use of public-private partnerships, rather than conventional contracts, to fund these efforts. What are the next steps in developing these landers? Why are partnerships the best approach

WASHINGTON — Italian space company D-Orbit will launch its first cubesat deployer in June on an Arianespace Vega, paving the way for an upgraded deployer in December on a SpaceX Falcon 9 capable of in-space maneuvers, a company official said May 21.  Bruno Carvalho, D-Orbit’s vice president of business development, said the company hopes to

WASHINGTON — While both the president and vice president plan to attend the Demo-2 commercial crew launch, there will be far fewer people attending the first American human orbital spaceflight in nearly a decade than once expected. The White House announced May 22 that President Donald Trump will go to the Kennedy Space Center for

WASHINGTON — Virgin Orbit says that it’s ready for its first orbital launch attempt, scheduled for May 24, while acknowledging potentially long odds of successfully placing a payload into orbit. Company executives said in a May 23 media call that final preparations for the inaugural LauncherOne mission are proceeding, with a “green board” and no

SDA wants information on “potential launch solutions” for its first 30 satellites to be deployed in low Earth orbit. WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency is designing a network of satellites in low Earth orbit and anticipates the first 30 spacecraft will be ready to launch by 2022. The agency issued a “request for

WASHINGTON — NASA has given SpaceX approval to proceed with final preparations for the first commercial crew mission with astronauts on board, although there is still work to complete ahead of the planned May 27 launch. NASA and SpaceX completed a flight readiness review (FRR) May 22 that lasted one and a half days. At

SpaceNews in Conversation withMAJ. GEN. JOHN SHAWU.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command———Thursday, May 282 p.m. Eastern/11 a.m. Pacificvia Zoom As NASA prepares to launch astronauts from U.S. soil for the first time since the space shuttle retired in 2011, the U.S. military is reviving the astronaut-rescue role it has been performing since the Apollo era.

Oakman Aerospace hasn’t furloughed anyone. In fact, the Colorado company is training two recent hires thanks in part to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), a U.S. Small Business Administration initiative designed to limit the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We likened it to winning the Powerball,” said Oakman Aerospace CEO Maureen O’Brien. That’s because

Barrett: “This report outlines an Alternative Acquisition System that will optimize the U.S. Space Force with a bold set of new acquisition authorities and policies.” WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force on May 20 delivered a report to congressional committees asking for changes in the rules that currently are in place for buying new weapon

WASHINGTON — Satellite imaging companies are embracing long-awaited reforms to commercial remote sensing regulations, although one member of Congress doesn’t think the changes go far enough. The Commerce Department, which regulates commercial remote sensing satellite systems through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, released a final rule revising commercial remote sensing regulations May 19. The

WASHINGTON — The Senate Commerce Committee backed the nomination of Neil Jacobs to be the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration May 20, despite some lingering concerns by some members. On a voice vote, the committee voted to favorably report the nomination of Jacobs as NOAA administrator and undersecretary of commerce for oceans

Space Force will have a field command focused on acquisition that will bring together several existing organizations WASHINGTON — One unfinished piece of business for the leaders of the U.S. Space Force is figuring out the organization of space acquisition agencies that currently operate independently. A plan to consolidate diverse procurement organizations under a single

WASHINGTON — Virgin Orbit announced May 20 it will make the first flight of its LauncherOne air-launched vehicle as soon as May 24, but is setting modest expectations about the probability of success. The company said in a statement that it current plans to perform its inaugural LauncherOne mission May 24, with “Cosmic Girl,” the

WASHINGTON — The inaugural launch of Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket appears all but certain to slip into 2021 because of development delays the European Space Agency and the rocket’s manufacturer ArianeGroup attribute to the coronavirus pandemic. Daniel Neuenschwander, the director of space transportation at the European Space Agency, told SpaceNews the coronavirus slowed or halted

Air Force Secretary Barrett argues that DoD space programs and investments should be integrated under the Space Force as soon as possible. WASHINGTON — Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett is pushing back on a Defense Department proposal that would delay transferring the Space Development Agency to the Space Force until October 2022. In a May

WASHINGTON — Doug Loverro, the NASA official responsible for human spaceflight programs, left the agency May 18 after less than six months on the job. In a May 19 statement, NASA said that Loverro resigned from his position as associate administrator for human exploration and operations effective May 18. Ken Bowersox, Loverro’s deputy, will serve

SAN FRANCISCO – York Space Systems announced the opening May 19 of its new manufacturing facility in Denver, a key step in the firm’s campaign to expand mass manufacturing of small satellites. Since York was founded in 2015, company leaders have shared their goal of making satellites more like consumer electronics, which tend to become

WASHINGTON — Relativity Space has hired a longtime SpaceX executive to help the startup scale up production of its small launch vehicle. Relativity said May 18 that it is hiring Zachary Dunn as its new vice president of factory development. He will lead a team with an initial focus on delivering the first Terran 1,

The contract announced May 18 is for two Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared missile warning satellites to be deployed in polar orbits. WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman received a $2.37 billion contract to develop two satellites that will be part of a future constellation that provides the U.S. military early warning of incoming missiles. The contract announced

SAN FRANCISCO – Isotropic Systems won two defense contracts in two months, an important sign the satellite terminal developer is diversifying its customer base, John Finney, Isotropic founder and CEO, told SpaceNews. On May 18, Isotropic announced a contract with the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), an organization established in 2015 to help the U.S.

Sen. Patty Murray and Sen. Rick Scott asked Air Force Secretary Barrett to not terminate Launch Service Agreements with companies that don’t win Phase 2 procurement contracts. WASHINGTON — Two senators from key committees have asked Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett to rethink plans to terminate existing partnerships with companies if they do not win

WASHINGTON — NASA will ask countries that seek to cooperate on the agency’s Artemis lunar exploration program to follow a series of principles that the agency says is intended to support a “safe, prosperous and peaceful” future in space. The Artemis Accords will be a series of bilateral agreements between the United States and other

The Air Force said OTV 6 will carry more experiments than any of the previous X-37B missions. WASHINGTON — United Launch Alliance on May 17 launched an Atlas 5 rocket carrying the U.S. Air Force X-37B spaceplane to orbit for its sixth mission. The vehicle lifted off at 09:14 AM Eastern time from Space Launch

WASHINGTON — The White House has updated the membership of an advisory group for the National Space Council, replacing four original members of the committee with five people, including a former member of Congress. In a May 15 statement, Vice President Mike Pence, who chairs the National Space Council, announced the revised roster of the

WASHINGTON — NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine criticized China May 15 for the “really dangerous” reentry of a large rocket stage earlier in the week that led to debris landing in Africa. In brief comments opening the online meeting of the NASA Advisory Council’s Regulatory and Policy Committee, Bridenstine used the May 11 reentry of the

WASHINGTON — Intelsat hopes it can eliminate around half of its $15 billion debt load through its recent bankruptcy, a change that would free the company to invest in next generation satellite technologies, according to a company executive.  “This was something that we’ve had to deal with for a while,” Samer Halawi, Intelsat’s chief commercial

U.S. Space Command for the next six years will remain at its provisional headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force on May 15 announced an open bidding process to select the permanent location of U.S. Space Command headquarters. The new process allows any state with large military

The flag is derived from the Space Force seal that Trump approved in January. WASHINGTON — President Trump on May 15 was presented with the official flag of the U.S. Space Force by Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond and senior enlisted adviser Chief Master Sgt. Roger Towberman. In attendance at the Oval Office

HELSINKI — China’s commercial satellite sector is expecting to see a boost after satellite internet was added to a list of “new infrastructures” to receive government support. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) added ‘satellite internet’ to a list of “new infrastructures” in an April meeting (Chinese). The NDRC provided a clearer definition of

WASHINGTON — Three satellite operators whose fleets have at least some C-band coverage of the United States are taking the Federal Communications Commission to court over their exclusion from an upcoming spectrum auction that stands to transfer billions of dollars to competitors with larger shares of the market.  Bermuda-based ABS and Hispasat of Spain have

MT LAUREL, New Jersey — Swarm says it has obtained the last regulatory approvals it needed to start an internet-of-things service with its tiny Spacebee satellites, closing a high-profile chapter in the company’s development.  Since receiving the necessary FCC approvals last month, Swarm is turning its attention to a challenge smallsat startups are more acquainted

WASHINGTON — NASA is making several changes to its plans to return humans to the surface of the moon by 2024, including launching the first two elements of the lunar Gateway together and adding a critical demonstration to the first crewed Orion flight. In presentations at a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council’s Human Explorations

One way to help the industry is for the government to communicate what problems it needs solved and commit funding for the right solutions. The COVID-19 economic slowdown will have lasting implications on the new space sector. Yet the United States cannot afford another lost decade of commercial space innovation. Adversaries are building their own

WASHINGTON — Maxar Technologies said this week it has received a contract to build multiple geostationary communications satellites for an undisclosed customer. The announcement was made in tandem with an earnings report showing that the coronavirus pandemic roiling the global economy put a crimp in Maxar’s satellite manufacturing revenue even as its satellite imagery division

WASHINGTON — German space company OHB is moving ahead with plans to launch a commercial lunar lander mission in cooperation with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in late 2022 as it looks for government and commercial customers. OHB and IAI announced an agreement in January 2019 to cooperate on an initiative to deliver payloads to the

The unit known as Detachment 3 is responsible to rescue astronauts if they have to abort the mission. WASHINGTON — As NASA and SpaceX prepare for a May 27 mission to fly astronauts to the International Space Station from the Kennedy Space Center, a unit of the U.S. Space Force will be on alert should

WASHINGTON — The coronavirus pandemic and the transition launch providers are making to new rockets is complicating EchoStar’s reservation of a launch slot for its Jupiter-3 broadband satellite, according to company executives.  Since ordering the 500 gigabit-per-second Ka-band satellite from Maxar Technologies in 2017, EchoStar has planned to launch it in 2021 to bring growth

WASHINGTON — Richard Branson, the founder and largest shareholder of suborbital spaceflight company Virgin Galactic, will sell more than a fifth of Virgin Group’s majority stake in the company to raise funds to aid its other companies affected by the pandemic. In a statement May 11, the company announced that Vieco 10, the Virgin Group

WASHINGTON — The United Arab Emirates plans to double the size of its astronaut corps by early next year with the selection of two new astronauts from a pool of more than 4,000 applicants. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre announced May 10 that it received 4,305 applications from citizens of the UAE to become

Not in the office? Not a problem.  Download your free PDF of the May 11 issue of SpaceNews Because many print subscribers are not at the office to receive their copy of SpaceNews, we are making it easy for everyone to download the PDF edition of the just-published May 11 issue. In this issue: NASA’s

A group with more than 150 government and industry officials will recommend greater investments in space technology and education. WASHINGTON — A virtual conference held last week with more than 150 government and industry officials will issue a report next month recommending actions to shore up the U.S. space industrial base. The four-day “State of

WASHINGTON — NASA has selected an official with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s satellite division to lead its Earth science programs, a search that took more than a year to complete. Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, announced May 5 that the agency had hired Karen St. Germain as the new director of

WASHINGTON — Despite sticker shock from some quarters, Aerojet Rocketdyne says a new contract for producing engines for NASA’s Space Launch System will result in cost reductions compared to the engines used on the space shuttle. NASA announced May 1 it had awarded a contract to Aerojet valued at $1.79 billion to produce 18 RS-25

WASHINGTON — Seven members of the European Parliament, the legislative branch of the European Union, are pushing for a recovery plan for space companies hurt by the coronavirus pandemic.  The parliamentarians wrote to Thierry Breton, a commissioner overseeing space in the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, estimating that the European space sector could contract