From the Magazine
From the moon to the Earth: How the Biden administration might reshape NASA
While Joe Biden is a familiar figure in politics, after decades in the Senate and eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president, his views on space, and his plans for NASA, are far less clear.
Biden likely to stay course on Space Force and defense investments
With regard to space and its importance to national security, analysts and industry insiders believe the incoming Biden administration will largely stay the course.
Op-ed | Securing cislunar space: A vision for U.S. leadership
Protecting U.S. and allied activities in cislunar space presents significant technological challenges that must be surmounted to ensure U.S. preeminence in the cislunar regime.
C-band bonanza bails out sluggish year for satellite orders
With an eye toward the FCC’s 2023 deadline, Intelsat and SES went on a shopping spree. But the C-band bonanza isn’t likely to be repeated anytime soon.
Space traffic management idling in first gear
Disagreement about which agency should take over civil space traffic management has stymied progress.
U.S. military keeps sharp eyes on orbit as congestion grows
As they prepare for the handover to the Commerce Department, military space watchers and traffic managers face a daunting workload due to increasing congestion in space.
Moon patrols could be a future reality for Space Force
U.S. military space activities today are confined to Earth orbit. As NASA begins to establish a permanent presence at the moon and works with the private sector to develop a cislunar economy, the military foresees playing a role protecting those interests if they were challenged by a foreign power.
Op-ed | Orbital debris and the threat to industry investment
Just as governments closely scrutinize medical vaccines before approving them to mitigate the risks of broad harm, they must also carefully scrutinize strategies to mitigate orbital debris risk from the upcoming increase in launch activity, particularly in LEO.
Interview | FCC Chairman Pai on RDOF, megaconstellations, debris rules and C-band auction
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai talks orbital debris rules, megaconstellations, C-band auction, Ligado and more with SpaceNews.
Ovzon’s ultimate goal: global coverage with its own fleet of satellites
Swedish broadband service provider Ovzon anticipates strong demand for the type of high-capacity mobile satellite communications it demonstrated recently for a U.S. government customer.
Foust Forward | The limits of space cooperation between the U.S. and Russia
On the morning of Oct. 14, a Soyuz spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome from Kazakhstan, both the first and last of its kind. It was the first to use a new “ultra-fast” two-orbit approach to the International Space Station, allowin…
On National Security | How the military buys satellites may have reached a turning point
The idea that DoD can save time, money and make space systems more resilient by moving to proliferated systems has been talked about for years. But many reform efforts could not overcome bureaucratic inertia.
Small satellites’ growing role in Earth science
How NASA’s InVEST program is yielding big dividends for future Earth-observing missions
Op-ed | Can SpaceX profit on certain Starlink launches?
It is no longer a surprise to industry observers that partial reusability, economies of scale and vertical integration have enabled SpaceX to achieve extremely low Falcon 9 launch costs. It may however remain a surprise to some that SpaceX will further reduce the Starlink launch capex by manifesting paying customers as rideshare payloads on some Starlink launches.
Landsat Next likely to bear little resemblance to its predecessors
NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey plan to issue a Request for Information by the end of the year on instrumentation and platforms for Landsat Next, the Earth observation system to follow Landsat 9.
Op-ed | Celestial property rights: How we can achieve a new, commerce-fueled space age
One of the largest hurdles is coming up with a set of legal rules for governing behavior in outer space. The issue of celestial property rights is tricky.
