Space

WASHINGTON — For the first time in more than three decades, NASA has announced it will send a robotic mission to Venus, selecting two proposals in the latest round of its Discovery program. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced at the end of a “State of NASA” speech at NASA Headquarters June 2 that the DAVINCI+

WASHINGTON — American and European officials acknowledged June 1 that the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope will likely slip from the end of October to at least mid-November because of delays linked to the Ariane 5. At a European Space Agency briefing about the space telescope, representatives of the agency and Arianespace said

TAMPA, Fla. — Europe has tasked an Airbus-led group to devise its own quantum communications network as startup Arqit raises $400 million for a space-based system. Airbus said May 31 the European Commission awarded the group a contract to study a quantum technology-powered network, called EuroQCI, to secure critical infrastructure across Europe. The 15-month agreement

TAMPA, Fla. — Satellite operator Viasat is stepping up efforts to stop Starlink’s growing constellation, taking aim at the nearly $900 million of rural broadband subsidies that SpaceX won in December.  The operator is asking the Federal Communications Commission to review decisions made around the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), claiming differential treatment and a

JOHANNESBURG — The European Space Agency announced May 28 that it had signed a long-delayed 700-million-euro contract ($855 million) with Airbus Defence and Space on behalf of the European Commission for six second-generation Galileo satellites. The European Commission announced Jan. 20 it had selected Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space to construct 12

For months, NASA had strongly suggested that it would select two companies for the next phase of its Human Landing System (HLS) program. Just as with the commercial cargo and crew programs, agency officials said, having two companies develop and demonstrate lunar landers would provide redundancy and ensure NASA was getting the best deal. “Competition

HELSINKI — Russia and China are looking to announce new partnerships for a joint initiative to construct a robotic moon base ahead of potential crewed lunar missions. The first responses to invitations to join the International Lunar Research Station project (ILRS) are expected during bilateral meetings during the Global Space Exploration Conference 2021 (GLEX 2021)

When choosing launch options, the NRO considers factors like satellite risk tolerance, required launch dates, available launch vehicles and cost. WASHINGTON — The National Reconnaissance Office entrusts the U.S. Space Force to launch most of its spy satellites. But the NRO also is using other types of commercial contracts to send spacecraft to orbit, a practice

Technologies developed by SDA, MDA and DARPA are expected to transition into larger Space Force programs WASHINGTON — The Biden administration’s defense budget proposal for fiscal year 2022 seeks more than $1.2 billion  for military space systems in low-Earth orbit.  According to budget documents released May 28, nearly $900 million of that investment is for

TAMPA, Fla. — As bitter legal disputes and billion-dollar price tags dominate headlines around C-band, work is frantically underway to clear the spectrum for U.S. terrestrial 5G wireless operators. Satellite operators Intelsat and SES, which stand to gain the most from clearing the frequencies in time, are nearing a June 1 internal housekeeping milestone for

The Space Force accounts for about 2.5% of the Defense Department’s $715 billion budget proposal. WASHINGTON — President Biden’s $715 billion defense budget proposal for 2022 includes $17.4 billion for the U.S. Space Force, about $2.2 billion more than what Congress enacted in 2021. The proposed $715 billion defense budget is $11.3 billion more than

Tianzhou-2 docking with Tianhe paves way for June crewed mission. HELSINKI — China’s Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft docked with the Tianhe space station module in low Earth orbit Saturday, eight hours after launch from Wenchang spaceport. The uncrewed Tianzhou-2 spacecraft completed automated rendezvous and docking maneuvers with Tianhe at 5:01 p.m. Eastern May 29.  Tianzhou-2 is

This Memorial Day, as we remember American servicemen and women who gave their lives for their country, we should also recognize another group of patriots who also paid the ultimate price in service to the nation — our fallen astronauts. America’s astronaut corps — that elite community of brave space pioneers — represent the very

WASHINGTON — NASA released its fiscal year 2022 budget request May 28, asking for $24.8 billion to support a number of new and existing science and exploration programs but also proposing once again to cancel an airborne astronomical observatory. The detailed budget request of $24.801 billion is slightly higher than the $24.7 billion in an

TAMPA, Fla. — OneWeb’s broadband constellation is set to pass the 200th mark after Arianespace successfully launched its latest batch of satellites May 28. Arianespace launched 36 satellites on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket 1:38 p.m. Eastern from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, in Russia, which will enlarge OneWeb’s fleet to 218 satellites. The mission was initially scheduled for

WASHINGTON — The bipartisan leadership of the House Science Committee has asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate NASA’s cybersecurity activities amid growing concerns about hacking of government computer systems. In a May 27 letter, the top Democrats and Republicans of the committee requested the GAO investigate the “cybersecurity risks to the sensitive data” associated

WASHINGTON — The Japanese and Canadian space agencies announced plans May 26 to send small rovers to the moon in the next several years, as Lockheed Martin unveiled a partnership with automaker General Motors to propose a rover for NASA’s Artemis program. The Japanese space agency JAXA said it is working with several Japanese companies

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea signed the Artemis Accords May 27, becoming the 10th signatory to the pact that governs norms of behavior for those who want to participate in the NASA-led Artemis lunar exploration program. On the same day, South Korea and the United States signed an agreement on “civil global navigation satellite

WASHINGTON — A Government Accountability Office report warns that NASA’s Artemis program faces technical risks as well as management issues that raise doubts about achieving the goal of returning humans to the moon by 2024. The May 26 report by the GAO, requested by Congress in a 2018 appropriations bill, concluded that NASA’s approach to

WASHINGTON — A delay of up to two years in the next New Frontiers planetary science mission competition won’t change the potential destinations for that mission. NASA announced May 12 it was delaying the release of a draft announcement of opportunity for the fifth New Frontiers mission from this October to as late as October

WASHINGTON — A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched another set of Starlink satellites May 26 on a launch that highlighted an often-overlooked aspect of the company’s reusability efforts. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:59 p.m. Eastern. The rocket’s upper stage released its

HELSINKI — The Chinese government has created a company dedicated to creating and operating a 13,000-satellite broadband constellation. The State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), a government body overseeing state-owned enterprises, issued a press release April 29 announcing the creation of the China Satellite Network Group Co. Ltd. The move follows comments from senior

SAN FRANCISCO – At the direction of the Biden Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) is adopting a portfolio approach. “For us that means not just launching one satellite at a time and building that satellite really well, but seeing how all the systems work together,”

TAMPA, Fla. — Canada’s decision to hold a public auction of C-band spectrum means it is unlikely to be a major funding source for Telesat’s $5 billion Lightspeed satellite constellation. Telesat had proposed running the auction itself, much like satellite operators did for selling similar frequencies in the United States — before the Federal Communications

Craig Miller was named president of Viasat Government Systems WASHINGTON — Viasat, a provider of satellite-based communications services, announced May 25 it has named Craig Miller to lead the company’s government business. Miller, who joined the company in 1995 and most recently was Viasat’s chief technology officer, takes over as president of Viasat Government Systems,

TAMPA, Fla. — A OneWeb-led group has secured government funding to launch a beam-hopping satellite in 2022, demonstrating how a spacecraft could switch its coverage area in real-time to respond to surges in demand. OneWeb, which has launched a third of its initial 650-strong constellation to low Earth orbit (LEO), said the so-called Joey-Sat spacecraft

Rep. Jim Cooper worries that Space Force acquisitions are headed down a similar path as past Air Force programs WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force has plans to acquire billions of dollars worth of new satellites over the coming years and needs to make sure it avoids the missteps that plagued previous acquisitions, said the

WASHINGTON — NASA suffered increasing cost overruns on its major programs again in 2020, a problem a new report says will be exacerbated by the pandemic. The annual report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on major NASA programs, published May 20, found that costs of those programs grew by more than $1 billion in

The Space Enterprise Consortium plans to issue a request for prototype proposals by June 30 WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force next month will solicit industry bids for deep-space radar sensors that can track active satellites and debris in high orbits above 22,000 miles. One or more contractors will be selected to develop prototype concepts

TAMPA, Fla. — The industry consortium devising a satellite network to keep the European Union from falling too far behind the megaconstellation goldrush is weeks away from nailing down key criteria. The group has already made initial proposals on elements including frequency and orbital characteristics, according to Dominic Hayes, frequency manager for the EU space

WASHINGTON — Firefly Aerospace announced May 20 it selected SpaceX to launch its first lunar lander mission for NASA, the latest in a series of contract wins by SpaceX for lunar missions. Firefly said that a SpaceX Falcon 9 will launch its Blue Ghost lunar lander in 2023 on a mission to land in Mare

WASHINGTON — Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo made its first flight to space in more than two years May 22, completing the first in a series of four suborbital flights planned by the company over the next several months. The SpaceShipTwo vehicle named VSS Unity, with pilots CJ Sturckow and Dave Mackay on board, took off from

HELSINKI — China’s Zhurong rover descended onto the surface of Mars late May 21, a week after the vehicle’s historic landing in Utopia Planitia. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced Saturday that the six-wheeled Zhurong had reached the surface at 10:20 p.m. Eastern Friday. The rover will now begin science and exploration tasks in

It’s certainly been an eventful few weeks for America’s space program with the recent return of astronauts from the International Space Station and confirmation of NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. However, readers of this publication know that there’s controversy swirling around NASA these days after the agency awarded the Artemis Human Landing Systems contract to a

TAMPA, Fla. — Starfish Space, a startup founded by former Blue Origin and NASA engineers, is developing space tugs to help manage rapidly growing megaconstellations. SpaceX is planning to launch tens of thousands of Starlink broadband satellites to join the more than 1,600 it already has in orbit, and a growing number of constellation operators

WASHINGTON — The European Space Agency has issued contracts to two European industry groups to begin concept studies of lunar satellite systems that would provide communications and navigation services. ESA announced the awards May 20 to two consortia, one led by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) and the other by Telespazio, to begin studies for

WASHINGTON — The former astronaut tapped by the White House to serve as NASA deputy administrator told senators she supported extending the International Space Station and continuing limitations on the agency’s ability to cooperate with China. Pam Melroy, nominated by the Biden administration April 16 to be deputy administrator, enjoyed strong support at a May

The mission known as USSF-51 was switched from Vulcan to Atlas 5 at ULA’s request WASHINGTON — What would have been the first national security mission for United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket will be flown by Atlas 5, the company confirmed May 19.  That mission, known as USSF-51, was awarded to ULA in August

WASHINGTON — The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) is moving ahead with plans to hold an in-person conference, one of the largest in the space industry, this October in Dubai. At a May 18 press conference, officials with the IAF and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center confirmed they will hold the 72nd International Astronautical Congress

WASHINGTON — NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated China for successfully landing a rover on Mars, but also used the milestone to warn Congress of China’s competitive threat to American leadership in human spaceflight. In a statement May 19, hours after the China National Space Administration (CNSA) released the first images taken by the Zhurong rover

The Indian space ecosystem is transforming. Public sector space programs are orienting toward exploration, commercial space endeavors are proliferating, national space policy is shifting, and the students who will carry India to new achievements in space are increasingly looking to opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). There remain significant obstacles for India to

WASHINGTON — Companies and organizations used a House hearing May 18 to advocate for a larger role in NASA’s Earth science programs, arguing their capabilities can complement NASA spacecraft. The hearing by the House space subcommittee on NASA’s Earth science programs devoted much of its attention to how commercial Earth imaging spacecraft could supplement NASA

WASHINGTON — NASA will delay the next call for proposals for the New Frontiers program of planetary science missions by two years, a move that could also change what missions will be eligible to compete. In a May 12 statement, NASA said it was postponing the release of the announcement of opportunity (AO) for the

For the SBIRS GEO-5 mission, ULA’s Atlas 5 upper stage for the first time used the Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 C-1-1 engine WASHINGTON — A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket carrying a U.S. Space Force missile-warning satellite and two small payloads lifted off May 18 at 1:37 p.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape

Tyvak-0130 is a 6U cubesat about the size of a large shoebox weighing just 25 pounds WASHINGTON — The Tyvak-0130 rideshare payload that flew to orbit May 15 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 carries a miniature space telescope for possible commercial use.  The technology was developed by Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems and the Lawrence Livermore National

WASHINGTON — NASA announced May 17 it has assigned another astronaut to the next commercial crew mission to the International Space Station, a sign that NASA no longer expects to complete a seat barter agreement with Roscosmos in time for that flight. NASA said that Kayla Barron will join the Crew-3 mission, launching on a

Operators who monitor and track objects in orbit, for example, currently have to go to separate datasets for information and manually organize it in Excel spreadsheets WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force plans to spend billions of dollars over the next decade to convert huge amounts of data that resides in separate systems into a

The contract was a competitive award managed by GSA’s Federal Systems Integration and Management Center.  WASHINGTON — Parsons Corp. announced May 17 it has won a $185 million U.S. Space Force contract for information technology and engineering services.   The contract is from the Space and Missile Systems Center Special Programs Directorate in Los Angeles,