The award begins a two-track Phase 1 for the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Opeations (Draco) demonstration program. 

Ingenuity was preparing to spin its dual rotors at full speed—the last in a series of preflight checkouts—late on April 9 when the issue occurred.

Australia’s Electro Optic Systems has demonstrated technology that is key to tracking and moving space debris in low Earth orbit that uses a laser-generated guide star and adaptive optics to remove atmospheric distortion and increase the laser power on target.

Former NASA astronaut and U S. Air Force test pilot Jack Fischer has joined with the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership (BAHEP) to provide the emerging Houston Spaceport with TexSpace, a future nonprofit focused on facilitating innovation within the space enterprise.

OrbComm, the low Earth orbit constellation provider of industrial connectivity services whose roots date to 1990s commercial space efforts, will be acquired by GI Partners, a U.S.-based investor in data infrastructure businesses, in an all-cash deal worth around $1.1 billion, including net debt.

The EU, the European Space Agency and their member states should convene in a high-level summit next year and define a European ambition in space, says Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s new director general.

The Biden administration is requesting $24.7 billion for NASA for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, a 6.3% hike over the agency’s current funding level.

Russia’s Soyuz MS-18 capsule carrying NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov docked to the International Space Station early April 9.