Space

China’s Beidou 3 satellite navigation system may be completed in the first half of 2020, earlier than expected.

There could be a space-induced leap in human consciousness as we collectively become a spacefaring civilization.

Phase Four’s RF thruster plan marks progress toward lower-cost electric in-space propulsion.

DARPA has returned to the stratospheric domain with a project aimed at demonstrating that a lighter-than-air balloon can drift between wind layers to navigate at altitudes up to 90,000 ft. for days or weeks at a time.

Rather than landing back on Earth, ULA Vulcan rockets will parachute just its engines for refurbishment and reflight.

Once the workhorse of the U.S. launch fleet, United Launch Alliance’s Delta II heads into the history books.

Having already felt the bite of U.S. competition, Arianespace counting on new rocket to keep it in the commercial space launch game

Borrowing best practices, technologies from heritage Atlas and Delta programs, ULA pivots to compete in new space environment.

The small hole in one of the Soyuz capsules parked at the ISS has been patched, but the mystery about what caused it is deepening daily on Earth.

Sensor upgrades and propulsion advances set to boost IAI space-based intelligence-gathering.

Vacuum-chamber test results drive design improvements to NASA Mars Helicopter.

NASA aims to leverage commercial satellite technology and industry practices into a power and propulsion module for a lunar-orbiting gateway.

Virgin Orbit is on the verge of flying its LauncherOne rocket under the wing of the company’s modified Boeing 747-400 carrier aircraft for the first time.

Bye flies StratoAirNet; Singapore’s solar quadcopter; Boeing’s synchronized UAVs; Echodyne’s radar approved; UK BVLOS drone corridor.

What the latest acquisitions by Boeing and Lockheed, and a possible sale by Maxar, tell us about the future of LEO, smallsats and geosats.

Space startup develops larger follow-on 3D metal printer to augment its “Stargate” device.

Stratolaunch Systems has unveiled details of the vehicles it is developing for deployment from the very large carrier aircraft in the final stages of preflight testing.

Here is a sampling of some of the major satellite missions being taken on by smallsats.

With crewed flight tests of Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Dragon 2 capsules months away, NASA assigns eight astronauts to begin training. Boeing adds a ninth.

The Parker Solar Probe will study the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the genesis of the solar wind and its far-reaching magnetic field.

F-22’s Poland deployment; Lockheed wins Next-Gen OPIR contract; Inside Israel’s networking warfare plans and the first firing of the Philippine navy missile.

Stratolaunch Systems rolled out its giant twin-fuselage, air-launch rocket carrier aircraft in California for more preflight tests on Aug 3.

There are many unanswered questions in the Pentagon about the White House’s push to create a sixth branch of the U.S. armed forces.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis now supports creating a sixth U.S. armed service, known as Space Force.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe launched early Aug. 12 to begin a $1.6 billion, seven-year mission to study our nearest star in greater detail than ever before.