The Biden administration has proposed substantial boosts in spending across NASA’s human exploration, planetary science, and Earth science/climate research as part of a 2022 budget proposal that could ease the previous administration’s plans to return to the Moon’s surface with U.S. astronauts in 2024.
The Pentagon’s fiscal 2022 budget request proposed $936.7 million for the U.S. Space Development Agency, which is an increase of $600 million or 36% compared to the previous year.
Within a budget request for aeronautics research in fiscal 2022 of $914.8 million, up from $828.7 million enacted for 2021, NASA plans to accelerate the launch of the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator program to produce a full-scale, ultra-efficient subsonic X-plane.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is working with Japanese toymaker Takara Tomy to build a transformable lunar robot to collect data on the Moon’s surface to use in development of a manned pressurized rover.
The FAA plans to transition a new rocket tracking capability from test to operational status in June, providing a way to reduce flight disruptions as the pace of commercial space launches increases.
Constellation operator OneWeb is to lead a consortium of UK companies in developing a next-generation beam-hopping low Earth orbit communications satellite.
The Court of Justice of the European Union has dismissed OHB System’s request to reverse the European Space Agency’s decision to exclude the company from a program creating the second generation of Galileo navigation satellites.
NASA is unlikely to achieve the 2024 goal of returning human explorers to the Moon’s surface set by the Trump White House in 2019, according to a second doubtful assessment from the U.S. Government Accountability Office within a week.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket delivered the 29th batch of Starlink satellites into orbit on May 26 as the company expanded beta trials of its high-speed internet service to Belgium and the Netherlands.
Questions surround NASA’s strategy for transitioning human activities in low Earth orbit from the aging International Space Station (ISS) to multiple commercial free flyers, with potential industry partners curious about the agency’s funding commitment.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has opened a new $12.8 million facility focused on integrating space research and development programs at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.
CAPE CANAVERAL—The U.S. plans to spend $2.5 billion over the next 10 years on a fleet of five new spacecraft to improve monitoring of Earth’s changing climate, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said on May 25.
Former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who holds the U.S. record for cumulative time spent in space, plans to return to orbit, this time as commander of a private mission to the International Space Station for Houston-based Axiom Space.
Fresh off new venture capital funding, small-rocket, mass-manufacturing startup Phantom Space is aiming to broaden its business model through the recent acquisition of StratSpace, a consultancy and developer of bespoke space systems and flight hardware.
NASA has issued a draft plan for the first phase of its Commercial LEO Destinations program, which seeks to spur the initial development of two to four commercial free flyers as successors to the International Space Station.
The rover rolled down the landing platform and started patrolling the surface on the southern part of Utopia Planitia, a 3,300-km-wide (2,051-mi.) plain in Mars’ northern hemisphere.
NASA’s major programs face mounting cost and schedule challenges, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s latest annual assessment for Congress.
With blessings from the U.S. Space Force, United Launch Alliance (ULA) is shifting the first national security space launch (NSSL) mission planned for a Vulcan Centaur rocket onto an Atlas V, buying time to complete two non-NSSL launches which are needed to certify the new booster for military missions.
Looking ahead to the need to build bases on the Moon and Mars, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has conducted experiments with the remote control and automated operation of construction equipment.
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei could remain aboard the International Space Station long enough to set a new record for a single U.S. spaceflight, a NASA official says.
