Space

NASA’s Mars Ingenuity helicopter has been deployed from the Perseverance rover, kicking off a 31-day test campaign to demonstrate powered flight on another planet.

Lockheed Martin is doubling down on investments in small satellite launch service companies, signing a block buy with startup ABL Space Systems for up to 58 missions through 2029.

In a first for a U.S. spacecraft at the International Space Station, SpaceX’s Crew-1 Dragon and its four-member crew swapped docking ports early April 5 to prepare for an upcoming crew exchange and provide a parking spot for a resupply version of the Dragon.

NASA’s 4-lb. Ingenuity helicopter has reached its test airfield on Mars in preparation for the first attempt at powered flight beyond Earth.

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program plans to observe another milestone early April 5, as the $8.5 billion initiative to provide the U.S. with a means of transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station marks its 10th anniversary.

As China prepares to launch the first module of a new space station in low Earth orbit, Russia says it is open to potential cooperation on the project.

The U.S. Space Force is in need of additional intelligence analysts as U.S. adversaries’ space capabilities continue to grow and is working toward establishing a National Space Intelligence Center by January 2022.

Vaya Space, a Cocoa, Florida, space startup formerly known as Rocket Crafters, on March 31 announced its entrance into the small satellite launching marketplace for launches of up to 1 ton to low Earth orbit starting in 2023.

China has boosted its high-resolution Earth observation capabilities with the launch of another Gaofen 12 satellite.

Fresh off its declaration that it was becoming a space-based weather service provider, ClimaCell has revealed its financing for getting there.

AST Spacemobile, the new publicly traded version of nanosatellite startup AST & Science of Midland, Texas, should emerge from its reverse-merger with a special purpose acquisition company on April 6 sporting around $462 million.

NASA estimates the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the agency’s major programs through fiscal 2020 and beyond at nearly $3 billion.

Russia has made another step toward the development of a new Soyuz 5 medium lift launch vehicle, with NPO Energomash reporting on March 31 that it had completed test firings of the first RD-171MV liquid rocket engine.

Just over a week after NASA outlined renewed plans to foster the development of U.S. commercial low Earth orbit free flyers to succeed the International Space Station, Sierra Nevada Corp. has unveiled ambitious plans to develop an orbital ecosystem based on its inflatable habitat design and Dream Chaser lifting body space vehicle.

To chart his administration’s path in space, Biden calls upon a colleague.

Tapping into the crosscurrents of the commercial space boom and advanced technologies such as cloud computing, Amazon is opening an AWS Space Accelerator to assist and network with related startups, with applications due April 21.

Finland-based Iceye, an Earth observation data analytics provider with its own constellation of synthetic aperture radar satellites, said March 31 it plans to launch more satellites this year than previously planned, with the next launch booked for midyear.

The Space Telescope Science Institute has selected 286 proposals for the initial cycle of observations planned with the NASA-led James Webb Space Telescope, which is planned for launch from French Guiana on Oct. 31.

SpaceX is aiming for a mid-September launch of a privately chartered Crew Dragon spacecraft on a three-day, 336-mi.-high, free-flying mission called Inspiration4, bankrolled and commanded by Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman.

The U.S. Space Force plans to release a solicitation in the second quarter of 2021 to purchase services from internet providers in low Earth orbit that will serve as an alternative to geostationary satellite communications.

SpaceX’s fourth high-altitude flight of a Starship upper stage prototype ended in a midair explosion on March 30 as the vehicle was beginning its engine reignition sequence to pivot for vertical touchdown.

Lockheed Martin received a $12.8 million contract award from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) on March 25 for the Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) program.

Virgin Galactic unveiled its next-generation reusable suborbital passenger spaceship on March 30, featuring a new design to enhance operations and a mirror-like exterior that adds thermal protection while setting a new bar for aesthetics.

Boeing and Hypersonix Launch Systems will conduct a joint study of an air-breathing space launch system powered by the Australian startup’s Spartan scramjet engines.

Apophis, a 1,120-ft.-wide asteroid that was discovered in 2004, had raised concerns that its frequent Earth-crossing orbit could pose an impact threat. But that all went away on March 26.