Space Industry Analysis
Dec 31, 2012
The bifurcation of the business jet market is expected to continue in 2013, with strong demand for larger and pricier jets and sluggish sales of small and mid-sized aircraft. A Chinese company's failed bid in 2012 to acquire bankrupt Hawker Beechcraft is unlikely to slow Beijing's bid to become a significant player in the market.
Dec 31, 2012
Can ad hoc design teams collaborating via the Internet produce a better infantry fighting vehicle quicker than traditional industry engineering organizations? Darpa aims to find out when it launches the first of three Fast, Adaptable Next-Generation (FANG) ground-vehicle design challenges in January 2013. Using new model-based design tools, virtual collaboration and foundry-style manufacturing, FANG aims to produce an amphibious combat vehicle in one-fifth the time of a conventional program.
Dec 31, 2012
The FAA's NextGen air traffic control modernization effort is a top priority, and 2013 will be a crucial year for its en-route automation modernization and automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast programs. Deployment of both is to be largely completed by the end of the year. If that does not occur, there could be serious headaches for other NextGen initiatives.
Dec 24, 2012
Primes find they must share intellectual property with suppliers.
Dec 24, 2012
It's a classic chicken or egg dilemma. Small satellites are not being built because there is no cheap way to launch them, and small launchers are not being built because there are no satellites to launch on them. So the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is attacking the problem from both directions simultaneously, with dual programs to develop $500,000 imaging satellites of less than 100 lb. and air-launched boosters to place them in low Earth orbit for $1 million a flight.
Dec 24, 2012
Lawmakers are constantly caught between balancing the needs of the federal government while staying true to the voters at home. Such is the case in this year's fight to maintain the Air National Guard (ANG) and Reserve, which lends a hand to the active duty military while also standing ready to serve all 50 states. Congress balked at the Air Force's initial proposal to cut 287 aircraft and 11,600 personnel, ordering a freeze on retiring or transferring aircraft.
Jul 20, 2020
SpaceX is aiming for its quickest turnaround between reflights of a Falcon 9 booster, with launch of a South Korean military communications satellite poised to fly as early as July 20 using the same first stage that carried NASA astronauts into orbit on May 30.
Jul 20, 2020
The British government has signed a long-awaited contract with Airbus for the next-generation Skynet communications satellite.
Jul 20, 2020
The United Arab Emirates’ first interplanetary spacecraft began a seven-month journey to Mars on July 20 following a successful launch aboard a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ H-IIA rocket.
Jul 17, 2020
NASA has resumed preparations for a key hot fire test of the first Space Launch System (SLS) core booster, but the agency is keeping a wary eye on coronavirus cases striking members of the Mississippi-based test team, Administrator Jim Bridenstine said on July 17.
Jul 17, 2020
The U.S. Space Force is asking industry what it needs to improve launch ranges on both the East and West coasts.
Jul 17, 2020
NASA’s long-running development of the Orion crew capsule for the safe launch and re-entry of up to four astronauts on missions to the Moon and Mars fails to account for more than $17 billion in related costs, a July 16 inspector general’s (IG) audit shows.
Jul 16, 2020
After overcoming years of delays to resolve technical issues, launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a long-awaited successor to the 30-year-old Hubble observatory, is being postponed at least seven months, largely due to pandemic-related workplace shutdowns, NASA said on July 16.
Jul 16, 2020
Launch of the United Arab Emirates’ Mars Hope mission, already twice delayed by poor weather, has been reset for no earlier than July 20.