Space Industry Analysis
Jun 17, 2013
The U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) has authorized a $343.3 million direct loan to Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd. (AsiaSat) to finance the purchase of two Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) communications satellites, plus launch services. SS/L is building AsiaSat 6, a C-band satellite, and AsiaSat 8, a mixed Ku/Ka-band satellite, under a contract announced in November 2011. The launches, to be carried out by SpaceX, are planned for the first half of 2014. To date in fiscal 2013, the Ex-Im Bank has authorized $891 million in support of U.S.
Jun 17, 2013
An Orbital Sciences Corp. Pegasus XL air-launched rocket is in final preparation to send a NASA scientific satellite into polar orbit to study a poorly understood region of the Sun's atmosphere in unprecedented detail. The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) (see image) will combine an ultraviolet telescope and a multi-channel imaging spectrograph to study the interface region between the visible surface of the Sun and its upper atmosphere, which is the source of most of the Sun's UV radiation.
Jun 17, 2013
NASA's long-lived Opportunity rover is rolling toward a new destination at Endeavour Crater on Mars, following one of the nine-year mission's most striking discoveries, a rock rich in clay minerals that points to an early, biologically friendly era dominated by water with a neutral chemistry. Opportunity's internal examination of the rock Esperance in a region known as Cape York on the crater's rim has produced findings strikingly similar to those from rock analysis by NASA's Curiosity rover at the Yellowknife Bay region of distant Gale Crater.
Jun 17, 2013
With 5th flight underway, plans for a space station in 2 years.
Jun 17, 2013
Test pilots working for Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic expect to expand the SpaceShipTwo flight envelope rapidly this year, and to reach the edge of space before the end of December.
Jun 10, 2013
Switzerland's Solar Impulse team overcame storms in the Midwest U.S. to fly the solar-powered prototype, HB-SIA, from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Lambert St. Louis International Airport on the third leg of its Across America 2013 cross-country flight.
Oct 28, 2020
The U.S. should build a coordinated and consistent approach to developing space-based solar power, beginning with a series of flight experiments leading to a demonstration of a complete on-orbit system with ground components, a new report advocates.
Oct 27, 2020
NASA’s commercial lunar Human Landing System (HLS) partners drew praise from the agency’s program manager as they outlined the biggest challenges they face in returning human explorers to the Moon’s surface in 2024 before a virtual SpaceCom conference audience.
Oct 27, 2020
The European Space Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NASA on Oct. 27 to participate in the planned lunar-orbiting Gateway.
Oct 27, 2020
As Virgin Galactic enters final preparations for the first rocket-powered flight of SpaceShipTwo from its Spaceport America operational facility in New Mexico, the company has added two additional pilots to its ranks.
Oct 27, 2020
NASA and SpaceX are targeting Nov. 14 for the launch of Crew-1, the first operational crew ferry flight to the International Space Station from U.S. soil in more than 11 years.
Oct 27, 2020
Guidance, navigation and control (GNC) software for Stratolaunch’s Talon-A hypersonic flying testbed has passed a preliminary design review and is being readied by developer Draper for loading next year into the vehicle’s flight control computers.
Oct 26, 2020
A 15th batch of Starlink satellites reached orbit on Oct. 24, SpaceX’s second launch within a week to build up an initial 1,450-member broadband communications network.
Oct 26, 2020
NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission team has announced plans for an Oct. 27 early stow of the spacecraft’s Touch and Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism collection head into the probe’s Sample Return Capsule to minimize the loss of material collected from the asteroid Bennu.