Space Industry Analysis
Feb 06, 2012
Are defense contractors earning too much money in an era of budget austerity? That question is being asked at the Pentagon after earnings results showed the industry managed to maintain and in many cases bolster profit margins in 2011, even as growth evaporated.
Feb 06, 2012
The first of the retired space shuttle orbiters to go on display will arrive at its final destination April 17. Discovery is due to land at Washington Dulles International Airport atop a shuttle carrier aircraft and then be delivered to the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center there two days later. NASA's workhorse shuttle will replace the atmospheric test article Enterprise in the museum display.
Feb 06, 2012
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to distribute some of the minute samples its Hayabusa probe returned from the asteroid Itakowa. The spacecraft, which imaged its shadow against the type-S asteroid as it approached in the fall of 2005 (see photo), returned more than 1,000 asteroid particles measuring about 10 micrometers (0.0004 in.) despite control problems at its target (AW&ST Nov. 22, 2010, p. 18). The tiny samples have been analyzed by Japanese scientists and now will be available in a peer-reviewed opportunity.
Feb 06, 2012
The Vega launch vehicle is the first European rocket to be developed in nearly two decades. But in a departure from Europe's recent past, the small-class Vega was not designed with the commercial launch market in mind.
Jan 23, 2012
Controllers have restarted on-orbit checkout of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite, which was suspended last year after the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor begin losing sensitivity in four of its channels. The problem appeared shortly after NPP returned this first full-Earth VIIRS image on Nov. 24. The spacecraft originally was scheduled to become fully operational in December, but its commissioning was put on hold while the VIIRS problem was analyzed.
Jan 23, 2012
LightSquared and the GPS industry continue their war of words over potential interference between the planned broadband wireless network and the position and timing signals from the U.S. government-owned navigation-satellite constellation.
Jan 23, 2020
NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft has carried out its closest look yet at “Nightingale”—the nickname for the primary site on the asteroid Bennu where the mission is to gather a sample of surface material for a return to Earth in late 2023.
Jan 22, 2020
Boeing has abruptly ended its participation in the development of the Phantom Express reusable launch vehicle, effectively terminating DARPA’s XSP (Experimental Spaceplane) program for which it was being built.
Jan 21, 2020
The U.S. Space Development Agency released its short-term acquisition strategy as the office prepares to fold into the Space Force in October 2022.
Jan 21, 2020
Retired NASA astronauts Scott Kelly, Michael Lopez-Alegria and Pam Melroy, all former military test pilots and space mission commanders, have been selected for entry into the U S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.
Jan 21, 2020
Eleven NASA candidate astronauts completed two years of basic training on Jan. 10 to become eligible for flight assignments.
Jan 20, 2020
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch on Jan. 20 completed the latest spacewalk in a long-running effort to upgrade the space station's solar power generation system.
Jan 19, 2020
The test is the last major milestone before a crewed flight test to the International Space Station as early as March.
Jan 17, 2020
Collins Aerospace will provide critical subsystems for Orion spacecraft crews assigned to resume human exploration of the lunar surface starting in 2024