Raytheon Intelligence & Space announced Feb. 9 that it has finished thermal vacuum testing of the payload for the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Geosynchronous Earth Orbit Block 0 program, ensuring the satellite’s sensor payload can survive in space.

The day after a SpaceX Falcon 9 delivered a batch of 49 Starlink satellites into orbit, a solar storm struck, causing atmospheric particles from Earth to expand into space, increasing drag on the newly launched flock. 

Having achieved steady progress in the areas of space technology and manufacturing, Singapore outlined a three-pronged strategy to encourage further growth in the local space sector at the Global Space & Technology Convention.

NASA has selected Lockheed Martin Space of Littleton, Colorado, to develop a Mars Ascent Vehicle, a small rocket capable of launching samples of Martian rock, soil and air gathered by the agency’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover for return to Earth.

The investment fully funds E-Space’s Beta 1 launch of its first test satellites in March, as well as its Beta 2 launch “later” this year, the company says.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s upgraded Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-T—the third in the GOES-R series of weather observation and environmental monitoring spacecraft—is undergoing preparations for a March 1 launch.

The UK is moving to bolster its burgeoning sustainable space sector with government funding for projects to advance capabilities ranging from situational awareness to debris removal.

A team including former NASA Acting Administrator Steve Jurczyk has unveiled a new business venture to develop and operate a reconfigurable robotic outpost and space tug in cislunar space, with an eye on providing payload hosting, communications, in-space transportation, remote sensing and other services to commercial and government customers, including the Defense Department.