Space Industry Analysis
Mar 19, 2012
It's no secret that Boeing's space systems unit is aggressively pricing bids in an effort to grow its commercial business segment as government spending flags. But even the most bullish observers were taken aback by an estimated $400 million deal just signed with Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) and Satellites Mexicanos (SatMex) to build the first all-electric commercial telecom spacecraft intended for launch to geostationary orbit.
Mar 19, 2012
Robert J. Stevens, the CEO of Lockheed Martin, went to Capitol Hill on March 14 with a message for lawmakers: You're making my life hell. At issue are automatic cuts to U.S. defense spending scheduled to take effect next January. If Congress and the Obama administration cannot reach a budget compromise by then, military budgets will be hit with a $53 billion cut in 2013 and another $450 billion in reductions during the next nine years.
Mar 19, 2012
Jilted by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to press ahead with its ExoMars program in partnership with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, which plans to contribute Proton launch vehicles and a new entry, descent and landing system to the ambitious two-pronged Mars mission in 2016 and 2018. Russia's arrival as the savior of ExoMars is not without cost, however, as ESA will now have to fund development of a rover for the 2018 mission that NASA had previously planned to share.
Mar 19, 2012
Government payloads riding piggyback on commercial spacecraft are likely to win only 1% of the worldwide satellite-market revenue in the next few years, as bureaucratic inertia and a “not-invented-here” mentality work against the potential cost savings.
Mar 19, 2012
Better sensors and more demand for the data they provide to troops on the ground will increase bandwidth needed.
Mar 19, 2012
Power-saving integrated circuits that extend battery life in portable electronics, and are being applied to military radios and investigated for avionics, are the overall winner of Aviation Week's 2012 Innovation Challenge, organized to bring new technologies and processes to the attention of aerospace and defense leaders.
Mar 06, 2020
This will be the first Angara launch since 2014, when Russia tested two variants from its Plesetsk military spaceport.
Mar 06, 2020
A independent team that analyzed software errors during the debut flight test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner recommended 61 actions that Boeing and NASA should take before the capsule flies again.
Mar 05, 2020
Ahead of flying its privately owned habitat to the International Space Station, Houston startup Axiom Space has signed a contract with SpaceX to ferry three fare-paying tourists and a professional commander to the station as early as June 2021.
Mar 05, 2020
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover was formally named “Perseverance” March 5, the winning entry in a contest that spawned 28,000 entries submitted from students in grades K through 12 from every U.S. state and territory.
Mar 05, 2020
As Rocket Lab prepares for its 12th launch from New Zealand, one of its Electron rockets arrived at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, where…
Mar 05, 2020
NASA’s Osiris-Rex asteroid sample return spacecraft descended to its lowest altitude yet over the asteroid Bennu earlier this week to gather high-resolution imagery of its primary sample collection site.
Mar 05, 2020
The Lunar and Planetary Science Conference scheduled for March 16-20 has been canceled due to concerns over the coronavirus.
Mar 04, 2020
Northrop Grumman subsidiary SpaceLogistics has signed on as DARPA’s commercial partner for the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites program.