Commercial
Safety panel urges patience in SpaceX Crew Dragon investigation
Members of an independent safety panel said it will take time to determine what happened during a SpaceX Crew Dragon testing incident several days ago, and that its impact to the overall commercial crew program remains uncertain.
Northrop Grumman highlights benefits of Orbital ATK acquisition
Nearly a year after Northrop Grumman’s acquisition of Orbital ATK closed, company executives say they’re getting the benefits they expected from the deal in terms of cost savings and new business.
Justice Department reaches deal with company implicated in Taurus launch failures
The Justice Department has reached a settlement with the company that provided faulty components that led to the failure of back-to-back Taurus launches for NASA.
Discarded Atlas 5 upper stage breaks up in orbit • Viasat, China Satcom partner on IFC • Hughes signs Jupiter-3 customer
The reason for the Atlas 5 upper stage break up, believed to have occurred between March 23 and March 25, is not yet known.
Clyde Space to build and operate AIS cubesats for Orbcomm
ÅAC Microtec subsidiary Clyde Space plans to build and begin operating in 2020 two cubesats equipped with Automatic Identification System (AIS) receivers for Orbcomm in a contract valued at 54 million Swedish Krona ($5.9 million).
Iridium says DoD’s new unlimited service contract renewal nearly complete
Iridium CEO Matt Desch said April 23 the company expects to finalize a multi-year renewal of its Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (EMSS) contract with the Defense Department in the next 30 days.
Polish space startup selects Clyde Space as subcontractor for earth observation satellite project
Polish space industry startup KP Labs has awarded an order to Scottish cubesat manufacturer Clyde Space which will act as a subcontractor for the company’s Intuition-1 project
Relativity to launch LEO satellite for mu Space
Relativity announced April 23 it has secured a contract to launch a low Earth orbit satellite for Thai startup mu Space.
Spaceflight looks to more rideshare missions with fewer satellites per launch
After placing more than 60 satellites into orbit on a single Falcon 9 last year, Spaceflight says it will focus on launching smaller numbers of satellites at a time on more launches this year.
NASA moves ahead with cargo Dragon launch after Crew Dragon anomaly
NASA is moving ahead with plans to launch a cargo version of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station next week as the investigation into an explosion of a Crew Dragon spacecraft continues.
SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft suffers anomaly during ground tests
A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft suffered what the company said was an “anomaly” during static fire tests of its abort engines April 22, dealing a setback to the company’s plans to fly a crewed test flight later this year.
Ground station startup Leaf Space plans capital raise
Italian startup Leaf Space wants to triple the number of ground station locations it has by late next year, citing customer demand for providing communications services to small satellites.
U.S. military Electron launch first test for York satellite
Rocket Lab is preparing to launch in late April or early May three U.S. military satellites including the Army Harbinger mission, a test to show whether an inexpensive commercial satellite equipped with a synthetic aperture radar can quickly deliver Earth imagery to soldiers.
Virgin Galactic expects rapid conclusion of SpaceShipTwo test flights after downtime
Virgin Galactic’s chief pilot believes the company will be able to go through the remainder of its SpaceShipTwo test program fairly quickly once test flights of the suborbital spaceplane resume.
Intelsat-29e declared a total loss
Fleet operator Intelsat said its first high throughput satellite, Intelsat-29e, is a “total loss” after attempts to save the malfunctioning satellite proved unsuccessful.
Satixfy prepares release of flat panel antennas this year
Rajanik Mark, Satixfy’s chief operating officer, said the company has created its own chipsets that it can build in-house to bring down the cost of antenna modules that are built into full user terminals.
