As the U.S. Space Force determines how to organize acquisition, the Space Rapid Capabilities Office must remain independent with a direct line to the chief to stay on the cutting edge, according to the office’s director.
NASA’s Osiris-Rex sample return mission spacecraft is on a path to execute a brief landing on the rocky surface of the asteroid Bennu on Oct. 20 following a successful second rehearsal of the steps necessary to execute the descent and ascent earlier this week, according to the mission team.
Initial data from NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission spacecraft indicate the probe successfully left its low orbit over the asteroid Bennu on Aug. 11 to carry out a 4 1/2-hr. second close-approach rehearsal in preparation for a brief landing to gather surface material for return to Earth.
Operations at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico have been suspended after the telescope’s reflector dish was damaged by a snapped cable, the University of Central Florida (UCF), which co-manages the National Science Foundation facility, said on Aug. 11.
About eight months after its founding, the U.S. Space Force has released initial guiding principles in the form of a space capstone publication describing space power as a separate and distinct form of military power.
The Texas-sized dwarf planet Ceres may be among the smallest Solar System bodies with evidence of potential habitable environments, according to a collection of seven new complementary scientific studies.
The U.S. national security space agencies will remain with incumbents United Launch Alliance and SpaceX for medium and heavy-lift launch services over the next five years
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 7 carrying 57 new Starlink broadband satellites—all outfitted with visors to cut Sun glint that interferes with astronomical observations—and two BlackSky Global imaging satellites.
As the push to return to deep-space exploration becomes more international and commercial, so too do concerns over norms of behavior among those who venture beyond Earth’s orbit.
The U.S. Space Force’s 30th Space Wing and entities in California have entered into an agreement to develop a spaceport and boost commercial launch activity at Vandenberg AFB on the state’s Pacific coast.
SpaceX will fly a pair of SES’s new satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket in 2022, with an option for a second flight for an undisclosed third satellite. ULA will launch another two SES spacecraft on an Atlas V, also in 2022, SES announced.
A prototype Mars-class reusable spaceship developed by SpaceX took a nearly 500-ft (150 m) hop off a launch stand near Brownsville, Texas, on Aug. 4, marking the company’s first successful Starship test flight in a year.
Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken praised the NASA/SpaceX team behind their test flight and expressed hope the public/private partnership continues to thrive.
As it incorporates lessons learned from the abbreviated debut flight of its LauncherOne small satellite rocket, Virgin Orbit said Aug. 3 it is planning for a second demonstration mission before year’s end, with NASA agreeing to use the launch to put 11 experimental cubesats into orbit.
Bartolomeo, an external platform developed to commercially support scientific research and technology development payloads outside the International Space Station Space (ISS), should be ready to host its first projects by mid-2021, according to developer Airbus Defense and Space.
