Penny-pinching politicians and those who reject the evidence that human activity is changing Earth’s climate are making it hard for scientists to continue providing the data from space needed to monitor and try to manage the effects of inaction
If signed, the deal with an undisclosed customer would allow UrtheCast to develop two sensors, a high-resolution, dual-mode optical/video camera and a high-resolution dual-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that will be capable of imaging simultaneously in L and X bands.
Sierra Nevada is taking advantage of the 65th International Astronautical Congress to push its Dream Chaser lifting-body spaceplane to offshore customers, now that NASA has rejected its bid to fly crews to the International Space Station.
Blue Origin, the startup space company endowed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, has generated a fair amount of smoke and fire at its West Texas test site, but very little publicity.
Aviation Week looks at the laser technology that the European Data Relay System (EDRS) will use to transmit data via geostationary satellites. EDRS aims to provide nearly uninterrupted data links to low-Earth-orbiting spacecraft and allow ground stations that need it most to receive information in near-real time.
AW&ST: What technical milestones are coming up at Orbital Sciences Corp. and Thales Alenia Space between now and the June 2015 launch of the first Iridium NEXT satellites?