News
Daily coverage of the global space industry with an emphasis on business and political news.
U.S. Space Force says its new seal is not a Starfleet knockoff
U.S. Space Force statement: The seal “honors the Department of the Air Force’s proud history”
Boeing says Spaceway-1 battery failure has low risk of repeating on similar satellites
The battery malfunction that put DirecTV’s Spaceway-1 satellite at risk of exploding has a “very low likelihood” of occuring on other satellites, according to the satellite’s manufacturer, Boeing.
House introduces NASA authorization bill that emphasizes Mars over moon
The leadership of the House Science Committee introduced a NASA authorization bill Jan. 24 that seeks to significantly alter NASA’s current plans to return humans to the moon and make them part of an effort to send humans to Mars.
U.S. Space Force has lifted off, now the journey begins
A team of U.S. military and civilian defense officials spent most of 2019 drawing up plans to create a Space Force as a new service branch within the Air Force. But it wasn’t until Congress reached a deal in December on the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that the Space Force went from concept to reality.
NASA appoints two new center directors
NASA has selected acting directors at two of its field centers to take those positions on a permanent basis.
Vector proceeding with sale of assets
Vector, the launch vehicle and smallsat technology company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December, announced Jan. 24 it is proceeding with plans to sell its satellite technology to Lockheed Martin or another bidder.
SpaceX to launch Egyptian satellite in 2022
SpaceX will launch Egyptian operator NileSat’s next communications satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket in 2022, SpaceXsaid Jan. 23.
Space industry group focused on cybersecurity to begin operations in spring 2020
The Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or Space ISAC, will launch an unclassified portal where companies can share and analyze cybersecurity information.
Tethers Unlimited says early results of deorbit hardware test promising
Hoyt said observations from the U.S. military’s Space Surveillance Network showed the Prox-1 satellite deorbiting more than 24 times faster than before deploying the tape.
EU reserves four Ariane 6 rockets for Galileo navigation satellites
The European Commission has “pre-booked” four launches using Europe’s next-generation Ariane 6 rocket.
Firefly suffers anomaly during launch vehicle test
Firefly Aerospace says it had an “anomaly” during a Jan. 22 static-fire test of the first stage of its Alpha rocket under development, an incident that prompted evacuations and road closures in the vicinity in the test site.
Descartes Labs unveils data refinery, modeling platform
Descartes Labs unveiled Jan. 22 a cloud-based platform for commercial customers that pairs geospatial datasets with modeling tools and applications.
SpaceX presses on with legal fight against U.S. Air Force over rocket contracts
SpaceX has asked the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California to hold a hearing on March 2 to consider the company’s protest against the U.S. Air Force.
DirecTV fears explosion risk from satellite with damaged battery
DirecTV is racing to move its Spaceway-1 satellite out of the geostationary arc after the 14-year-old satellite suffered a crippling battery malfunction that the company fears could cause it to explode.
Boeing drops out of DARPA Experimental Spaceplane program
Boeing has decided to no longer continue development of an experimental suborbital spaceplane for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the latest setback for DARPA’s long-running efforts in space access.
