Posts
Lockheed Martin projects decline in space profits in 2019 due to ULA
Orlando, FL — While Lockheed Martin’s space unit reported increased earnings in 2018, the company cautioned that it expects profits from that unit to decline in 2019 because of decreased contributions from United Launch Alliance. Lockheed Martin reported Jan. 29 an overall business segment operating profit of $5.88 billion on net sales of $53.7 billion…
Read More
Air Force official shakes things up at SMC
This article was first published in the SN Military.Space newsletter. If you would like to get our news and insights for national security space professionals every Tuesday, sign up here for your free subscription. Few people in the Pentagon or the space industry have heard of Col. Russell Teehan. In July, he was named “portfolio architect” of the Air Force Space…
Read More
Relativity to build launch site at Cape Canaveral
Jacksonville, FL — Relativity, the startup developing a small launch vehicle using additive manufacturing technologies, announced Jan. 17 it has won approval from the U.S. Air Force to build a launch site at Cape Canaveral. The company said it had received a “Statement of Capability” from the 45th Space Wing, which operates Cape Canaveral Air…
Read More
Hurricane satellites reveal flooding
Jacksonville — Researchers examining data produced by small satellites launched in 2016 to track ocean winds were surprised the mission produced valuable information on soil moisture and flooding. NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, a constellation of eight 30-kilogram satellites built by the Southwest Research Institute and the University of Michigan, observed the Amazon River basin in far…
Read More
DigitalGlobe loses WorldView-4 satellite to gyro failure
JACKSONVILLE — DigitalGlobe announced Monday that its WorldView-4 satellite has malfunctioned. In a statement, DigitalGlobe, a division of Maxar Technologies, said the control moment gyros on WorldView-4, launched in November 2016, have failed, preventing the spacecraft from pointing accurately. The company said that while efforts are continuing to restore the spacecraft, “Maxar believes that WorldView-4 will likely…
Read More
Wall Street – Space-savvy once again
Wall Street is now finally paying attention to the space industry again. In December, CNBC profiled Adam Jonas, a former automotive industry analyst at Morgan Stanley who has shifted to analyze the space industry. His coverage of Tesla led him to discover Elon Musk’s other company, SpaceX, and he found that there was enough going…
Read MoreThe greatest spacestories of 2018
SpaceX’s Starman mannequin is seen inside Elon Musk’s red Tesla Roadster with Earth in the background, shortly after launch on Feb. 6, 2018. As of Nov. 2, the duo were beyond the orbit of Mars. Credit: SpaceX The year 2018 saw a wide range of milestones in spaceflight, stretching all the way from the sun…
Read More
Spy Satellite Launch delayed once again due to glitch
The United States will have to wait a bit longer to get its newest spy satellite aloft. The secret NROL-71 reconnaissance satellite was scheduled to lift off Wednesday evening (Dec. 19) atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. But controllers called the attempt off about 10 minutes…
Read More
Air Force launch commander ‘not confident’ GPS 3 will lift off Wednesday
Update: SpaceX said Wednesday morning it needed more time to evaluate the cause of Tuesday’s launch scrub. “Standing down from today’s launch attempt of GPS III SV01 to further evaluate out of family reading on first stage sensors; will confirm a new launch date once complete,” SpaceX tweeted at 6:32 a.m. Eastern Wednesday. JACKSONVILLE —…
Read More
Blue Origin gearing up for next New Shepard test flight
Blue Origin plans to conduct the next test flight of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle no earlier than Dec. 19 as the company moves closer to flying people into space. In a statement Dec. 17, the company said the next New Shepard flight, designated NS-10, will take place Dec. 18 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern from…
Read More
FCC Approves SpaceX, Telesat, LeoSat and Kepler Internet Constellations
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted Nov. 15 to approve four proposed satellite constellations, authorizing nearly 8,000 small telecom satellites to serve U.S. entities from low Earth orbit. The new regulatory approvals set the stage for two companies, SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, and Telesat of Ottawa, Canada, to expand constellations already approved last year with more…
Read More
NASA Studying Three-Stage Approach to Human-Class Lunar Landers
As NASA starts to build up details about its plans to return humans to the moon, the agency is studying concepts for “human-class” lunar landers that would involve three-stage vehicles whose individual components could be flown on a range of launch vehicles. At a pair of meetings last week, agency officials said their examination of concepts for…
Read More
Taking Astronauts Beyond Earth Orbit with the Orion Spacecraft
The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle is NASA’s planned spacecraft to take astronauts into space beyond Earth orbit. The agency launched the first test flight of the spacecraft in December 2014. A second flight will happen on the first uncrewed test of the Space Launch System rocket, with crewed missions scheduled to follow in the 2020s.…
Read More
Spot the Andromeda Galaxy Overhead This Week
The Andromeda Galaxy, also known as Messier 31 (or M31), is one of the most distant objects visible to unaided human eyes. This spiral galaxy, located 2.5 million light-years away from our sun, is considered to be a “twin sister” to our own galaxy in appearance. Look for it as a faint and elongated fuzzy…
Read More
Empty Space Station? First time in nearly two decades
A few months from now, the International Space Station (ISS) could be unoccupied for the first time in nearly two decades. Russia’s workhorse Soyuz rocket suffered a serious anomaly just minutes after launching two astronauts toward the ISS today (Oct. 11), forcing the spaceflyers’ crew craft to make an emergency landing in Kazakhstan. Those two explorers —…
Read More