Space Industry Analysis
Jul 23, 2012
Nearly 10 years have passed since Raytheon lost a contract to Boeing for the U.S. Air Force's next generation of satcom terminals. Known as FAB-T (Family of Advanced Beyond-line-of-sight Terminals), the program, estimated at $4.7 billion, will facilitate communications between military aircraft and the Pentagon's new Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite constellation.
Jul 23, 2012
Orbiter would launch on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
Jul 23, 2012
An article in the July 16 issue (page 34) incorrectly stated the Franco-German cost estimate for a next-generation European launcher, which is $5-8 billion. In addition, the article should have indicated that the U.K. investment in a national space technology program is funded at £10 million ($15.5 million).
Jul 23, 2012
Budget and political decisions made in Berlin, Brussels and Washington will help shape the global aerospace industry. So it was not surprising that an undercurrent of anxiety ran through the recent Farnborough air show (see p. 43). Uncertainty from a financial crisis in Europe, potentially hefty cuts to U.S. defense spending, and slower economic growth in Asia and Latin America have put buyers and suppliers on edge.
Jul 23, 2012
The powerful rocket engine developed in the 1960s to launch the first men to the Moon could be reprised in the 2020s as the powerplant for strap-on boosters that NASA hopes to use in heavy-lift human missions to Mars. (Image: NASA)
Jul 23, 2012
Three veteran space travelers are settling in on return visits to the International Space Station, after their Soyuz launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Apr 23, 2020
Encouraged by progress in the Commercial Crew program, NASA should nonetheless expand planning for staffing the International Space Station long-term to provide options, NASA’s safety oversight panel said on April 23.
Apr 22, 2020
A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on April 22 to deliver a seventh batch of the company’s Starlink communications satellites into low Earth orbit.
Apr 22, 2020
Senior U.S. defense officials raised alarms on April 22 about a two-day-old decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to grant Ligado Networks a slice of the spectrum adjacent to the military-operated GPS network.
Apr 22, 2020
The premature shutdown of one of nine Merlin engines that powered a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into orbit last month was caused by cleaning fluid trapped inside a sensor and igniting, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on April 22.
Apr 21, 2020
The Weather System Follow-on satellite completed its critical design review with the U.S. Space Force green lighting Ball Aerospace to enter full production.
Apr 20, 2020
NASA has appointed the agency’s chief economist, Alexander MacDonald, to serve as program executive for CASIS, the NASA-backed Florida nonprofit that oversees the U.S. National Laboratory portion of the International Space Station.
Apr 20, 2020
2I/Borisov, the second comet of extrasolar origin to approach the Sun in recent years, brought with it an unprecedented glimpse into the chemistry of the planet-forming protoplanetary disc surrounding another star.
Apr 17, 2020
NASA and SpaceX are targeting May 27 for a crewed test flight of the Dragon 2 spacecraft to the International Space Station, the first human orbital space launch from the U.S. since the end of the shuttle program in 2011.