The U.S. Space Force this month will finalize its force design for how it will move the ground moving target indication mission from aircraft to space, with the plan to shape the 2024 budget request. The U.S. Air Force wants to retire its E-8C Joint Stars that currently serve in this role, with much of the capability to come from satellites. This plan faces several hurdles, however, not the least of which is physics.
Startup propulsion company Ursa Major announced June 2 that it is offering a 200,000 lb. thrust liquid oxygen and methane staged-combustion rocket engine called Arroway.
The Pentagon and the intelligence community are close to wrapping up a Space Strategic Review to outline the government’s policies for operations in space, including the mix of offensive and defensive systems and the extent to which they need to be classified.
The U.S. Navy has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with Kleos Space to provide radio frequency geolocation data as part of an experiment.
NASA has selected Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace as part of a potential $3.5 billion public private partnership for the development, training and operations of a new generation of astronaut spacesuits to support the agency’s human exploration of the Moon as well as continuing maintenance and upgrades to the International Space Station (ISS) through 2030.
The initial Protoflight Model small satellite for NASA’s Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment mission has completed functional and environmental testing at Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory.
Sierra Space and Spirit AeroSystems have signed a strategic partnership to improve production efficiency and assembly of Sierra Space’s Shooting Star cargo module. The letter of intent covers the development and production of future Shooting Star cargo modules. Sierra Space and Spirit AeroSystems will also work together to find ways to speed up the time it takes to bring Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser family of spaceplanes to market, the companies said on May 31.
Astroscale will build its Elsa-M satellite servicer for European customers and perhaps others with the goal of a late-2024 launch after a €14.8 million ($15.9 million) infusion via a European Space Agency and OneWeb alliance.
NASA plans to roll back the Artemis I mission Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion crew capsule to its Kennedy Space Center launchpad on June 6 for a second run at a Wet Dress Rehearsal.
Space Systems Command on May 26 ordered eight launches from United Launch Alliance and SpaceX under the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 procurement program.
The Space Development Agency has awarded a $325 million contract to General Dynamics Missions Systems to establish the ground operations and integration segment for Tranche 1 of the National Defense Space Architecture.
Though pleased with the outcome of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner’s uncrewed roundtrip test flight to the International Space Station, NASA and its commercial crew partner have much to assess—and perhaps a few items that must be altered—before a crewed version will be able to lift off.
Boeing’s uncrewed CST-100 Starliner successfully completed a six-day roundtrip test flight to the International Space Station (ISS) May 25, with an undocking, re-entry and parachute descent at White Sands Space Harbor on the grounds of the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
SpaceX continued its weekly launch pace with liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket on May 25 carrying 59 small satellites and hosted payloads, marking the company’s fifth rideshare mission. Following launch at 2:35 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the rocket’s first stage returned to the launch site while the upper stage fired to place the Transporter-5 payloads into a preliminary polar orbit.
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has awarded its largest-ever commercial imagery contract effort—up to billions over the next decade—to BlackSky, Maxar and Planet at a critical time for the industry.
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner departed the International Space Station’s U S. segment as scheduled, setting up its autonomous return to Earth under parachute at New Mexico’s White Sands Space Harbor late May 25 to end NASA’s six-day Commercial Crew Program Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2).
Axiom Space and Italy’s minister for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition have signed a memorandum of understanding to advance existing collaboration, the Houston-based firm announced May 25.
Another lunar buggy contender is emerging, this time with an autonomous explorer angle: Lunar Outpost on May 24 unveiled a $12 million seed round, promising a new class of autonomous Moon rovers.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station secured hatches between Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and the seven-person orbital laboratory May 24, preparing the uncrewed capsule for departure and a return to Earth at White Sands, New Mexico, weather permitting.
