Space

Real-time analysis of human genetic response to the space environment may be coming, with enormous—and perhaps scary—implications.

Optical comms development for DARPA can boost commercial crosslinks as well.

The U.S. is trying to keep smallsat, cubesat and nanosat operators viable as they wait for domestic launch-service providers to field dedicated rides to space.

Phoenix-based Atlas Space Operations, Inc., plans to inaugurate a commercial deep-space communications service by July 2017.

Currently, the FAA must clear large blocks of airspace around launch and recovery sites.

A Silicon Valley startup plans to send an experiment in fiber-optics manufacturing to the International Space Station next year in a bid to make to the first commercial products that require microgravity for their creation, and sell them at prices higher than the cost of launch.

JAXA has achieved long-term success for its JEM space lab on the ISS by sticking to its original plan as much as possible, regardless of short-term priorities.

NASA looks for flexibility in its uses for solar-electric propulsion, in part to avoid political pitfalls.

Virgin Galactic’s LauncherOne project has kick-started the creation of new, vertically integrated, rocket development and manufacturing capabilities in California.

Design initiatives and lower manufacturing concepts devised for new space are being used for the latest mainstream space projects.

NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover could be ready to resume science operations within a few days, after a near week-long round of troubleshooting to determine why it placed itself in “safe mode” on July 2.

Like many other developers of small satellites, NovaWurks is waiting for a piggyback launch. But the company benefits from a unique spacecraft design.

ATC reform left for later; House bill aims to block sale of Boeing aircraft to Iran; lawmakers ask about sending U.S. satellites to orbit on Indian rockets.

Following a critical design review in June that found several components need additional work, the program is tentatively targeting an April delivery of the ESM to NASA.

Space exploration is likely to be lost in the “fear and loathing” that will attend the two U.S. political conventions upcoming this month. That is a shame, because the opportunities—and pitfalls —looming in the spaceflight endeavor this year cry out for a well-reasoned, coherent U.S. policy.

If the U.S. opts to disaggregate its future Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites, the decision could allow allies to create a unified satcom system by 2025.

Cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station successfully re-docked an unmanned Progress cargo capsule early July 1, successfully demonstrating an ungraded Russian manual docking system.

Boeing Chairman, President and CEO Dennis Muilenburg sat down with Aviation Week before the Farnborough Airshow to discuss the 737 MAX family, KC-46A tanker, supplier issues and much more.

Goldfein also offers to consult A-10 operators | NASA inspector general praises agency for saving money on SpaceX launches.

Long March 7 can loft a 13.5-metric-ton payload to low Earth orbit, making it the most powerful Chinese rocket so far and close to the SpaceX Falcon 9 in capability.

The Canadian government has abandoned the idea of fielding a dual-mission satellite system covering the Arctic region and instead will pursue a dedicated communications constellation with a similar coverage footprint and a price tag of nearly $2 billion.

NASA is ready to help Elon Musk land a Dragon capsule on Mars, and is taking a wait-and-see approach to sending its own expensive instruments along.

Raytheon has completed a key test milestone in developing the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS OCX, proving the ground control segment’s ability to securely transfer information between government agencies.

NASA’s Curiosity rover detected the unexpected mineral while sampling during its methodical climb of Mount Sharp.

The first launch of a Long March 7 rocket on June 25 has opened an intensely busy 12-month period for the Chinese space program, with at least four more major missions scheduled for execution by mid-2017.