News
Daily coverage of the global space industry with an emphasis on business and political news.
Soyuz failure to affect ISS utilization
With the International Space Station likely to have only a three-person crew for an extended period, researchers expect there will be less time devoted to research.
Virgin Galactic preparing for next phase of SpaceShipTwo test flight program
Virgin Galactic’s chief executive says the company is approaching the “next phase” of the flight test program for the company’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle as the company’s founder predicts the company reaching space in “weeks.”
NASA addressing problems with Hubble and Chandra space telescopes
As one group of engineers continues to diagnose a gyro problem that has sidelined the Hubble Space Telescope, another is dealing with a problem that has put operations of another large space observatory on hold.
China to launch unmanned test flight of next-generation crewed spacecraft in 2019
The next-generation crewed spacecraft will be the payload for the first flight of the Long March 5B launch vehicle, a variant of the Long March 5 and designed for lofting large modules of the planned Chinese Space Station.
Is Space Sensor Layer the Pentagon’s next major space program?
Defense officials have been sounding alarms about what they describe as a glaring national security vulnerability — a new class of ultrafast weapons being developed by China and Russia that would overpower U.S. missile defenses.
Soyuz investigators hone in on booster separation, promise conclusions Oct. 20
Roscosmos now says one of the Soyuz rocket’s four strap-on boosters failed to properly separate and nicked the core stage.
Senate confirms Morhard as NASA deputy administrator
The Senate confirmed James Morhard to be NASA’s deputy administrator late Oct. 11.
Safety panel fears Soyuz failure could exacerbate commercial crew safety concerns
Members of an independent NASA safety panel said they were worried that the Oct. 11 Soyuz launch failure could make safety concerns with the agency’s commercial crew program even worse.
Arianespace assessing impact of crewed Soyuz failure on satellite-launching variant
Arianespace said Oct. 11 it’s too soon to say whether the Soyuz-ST rockets it uses to launch satellites from South America will be grounded following the failure of a Russian Soyuz-FG rocket carrying crew to the International Space Station.
Air Force funding three new rockets to compete with SpaceX but only intends to buy launch services from two providers
Phase 2 of the Launch Service Agreement will be an open competition. All there winners have to compete - or they would have to return their development funds back to the government. SpaceX presumably would bid as well.
LeoSat and partners put satellites on a diet
LeoSat’s strategic partners, Spanish satellite operator Hispasat and Sky Perfect Jsat of Japan, are helping the constellation developer update its satellite design.
SES’s future GEO satellites will be more like O3b, CEO says
Fresh off the success of a recent contract win to connect IBM Cloud customers with O3b satellites, SES’s chief executive said many of the operator’s future geostationary satellites will have attributes of O3b to appeal to more cloud networks.
NASA to look at options to keep crew on ISS while Soyuz grounded
With Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft grounded for an indefinite period, NASA managers said Oct. 11 that they will look at ways to keep the current International Space Station crew in orbit for an extended period if needed.
Soyuz demonstrates finesse in flight and failure
Thursday’s dramatic launch abort was the first time a crewed spacecraft bound for the ISS has suffered a mission critical failure. But it was not the first time that a manned Soyuz rocket has been forced to activate its launch abort system.
Soyuz launch to ISS aborted after booster failure; crew safe
An American astronaut and Russian cosmonaut are reported to be in good condition after a problem with their Soyuz rocket minutes after liftoff Oct. 11 forced them to abort their mission to the International Space Station and make an an emergency landing in Kazakhstan.
Artificial intelligence extends into space
Like SES, government agencies and space companies are applying artificial intelligence to various problems they face.
