Commercial
Army’s evaluation of Starlink broadband to focus on reliability, vulnerability
Gen. Murray: “It’s about figuring out what capabilities they can provide, and what vulnerabilities do they have?"
Weather scrubs SpaceX commercial crew launch
The first human orbital spaceflight from the United States in nearly nine years came within 17 minutes of launch May 27 before weather conditions postponed the launch.
FCC stands by Ligado decision as lawmakers step up criticism
The FCC pushed back on new criticism from the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.
Intelsat, SES to participate in FCC’s $9.7B C-band program • OneWeb says it wants 48,000 satellites
OneWeb told the FCC May 26 that it wants to increase its constellation size to 48,000 satellites despite having filed for bankruptcy over an inability to fund a smaller broadband megaconstellation.
Commercial crew astronauts accept risks of test flight
The astronauts who will fly the first Crew Dragon mission say they understand and accept the risks of a new spacecraft, which they believe can’t be boiled down to a single number.
SpaceX to add sunshades to all future Starlink satellites
SpaceX has decided to add sunshades to future Starlink satellites to reduce their impact on astronomy, having opted for constellation-wide implementation of the reflective hardware.
NASA taps Airbus for commercial satellite data buy
NASA intends to gain access to Earth observation data gathered by Airbus Defense and Space satellites through the Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition Program.
Crew Dragon ready for historic launch as NASA looks ahead to next mission
As NASA and SpaceX complete final preparations for the first crewed flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, the agency is already looking ahead to the spacecraft’s next mission.
RSCC planning four satellites to cover Russia’s Far North
Yuri Prokhorov, RSCC’s chief executive, said the company wants to have the satellites in orbit in 2024 to provide Ku-band coverage to Russia’s Far North.
Roccor completes key tests of Link 16 satellite antenna
Roccor has completed radio frequency testing of the antenna scheduled for launch later this year on the satellite housing Viasat’s Link 16 military communications terminal.
U.S. Army signs deal with SpaceX to assess Starlink broadband
The U.S. Army will experiment using Starlink broadband to move data across military networks.
Weather primary concern for Demo-2 launch
NASA and SpaceX officials said after a final pre-launch review they had no major issues about the upcoming Demo-2 commercial crew launch beyond one over which they have no control: the weather.
Virgin Orbit first launch attempt fails
Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne failed to reach orbit in its first launch attempt May 25, with the mission “terminated” moments after the rocket’s release from its aircraft.
Pentagon presses on with campaign to overturn FCC’s Ligado order
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration formally petitioned the FCC to reverse its decision to grant a spectrum license to Ligado.
SpaceX overcame parachute, thruster problems in Crew Dragon development
To get a new, state-of-the-art crewed spacecraft ready to carry astronauts, SpaceX and NASA had to overcome problems with a technology long thought to be understood.
Virgin Orbit sets expectations for first launch
Virgin Orbit says that it’s ready for its first orbital launch attempt, scheduled for May 24, while acknowledging potentially long odds of successfully placing a payload into orbit.
