Space

The agency this week is issuing three concept development contracts for the new Multiple Object Kill Vehicle (MOKV) program, one each to Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Boeing.

A pair of new histories reveals little-known details about the interaction of the U.S. space program and the civil rights movement in the South.

NASA has chosen Lunar IceCube for inclusion of secondary smallsat payloads on the the multibillion-dollar SLS-Orion test flight, which could provide potential encouragement for researchers to push deeper into space using CubeSat technologies.

At perihelion, the ESA mission will be able to glimpse the effect of that approach on the comet’s surface.

NASA funds further study of a propulsion system that could dramatically reduce the time required to explore the outer reaches of the Solar System and beyond.

Electric-aircraft challenge winner; NASA’s extreme-access flyers; blast-containing baggage container; TsAGI quiet supersonic idea.

A year before its delayed first flight, the largest of China’s new family of space launchers is progressing through testing. The propulsion systems of the two core stages and the booster have now all been fired.

The NTSB’s aviation chief says recent accidents show cockpit videos are invaluable in determining crash causes.

ESA’s Juice spacecraft will complement NASA’s Jupiter exploration, and look at whether its type of moons can harbor habitable environments.

In searching for life beyond Earth, scientists are continuing a human trait scientists believe was genetically set in ancient Africa.

While it sizes up high-value landing site candidates for its next Mars rover, NASA is developing strategies for protecting dozens of potential rock and soil samples cached on the red planet for harvest and return to Earth at some time in the future.

The design, test and procedural weaknesses unearthed in the SpaceShipTwo accident should ultimately improve commercial spaceflight safety.

Reaction Engines gets a boost from AFRL’s validation of its Sabre engine cycle concept.

Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson says the investigation will “help make the fledgling commercial space industry safer and better.”

Despite the failure of two cargo supply missions within a year, commercial space companies are full-speed ahead with their next experiments and payloads

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is expected to adopt findings that the co-pilot’s earlier-than-planned unlocking of the feathering tail mechanism on SpaceShipTwo was the probable cause of the fatal accident that struck the suborbital project on Oct 31, 2014.

Stratolauncher studies universal payload pod for world’s largest-wingspan aircraft.

A 1932 paper by famed German aerodynamicist Ludwig Prandtl inspires NASA Armstrong work on a tailless flying-wing aircraft that could eventually fly on Mars.

A 1932 paper by famed German aerodynamicist Ludwig Prandtl inspires NASA Armstrong work on a tailless flying-wing aircraft that could eventually fly on Mars

New Horizon mission scientists believe they may have caught Pluto’s atmosphere just as it is beginning to freeze onto the dwarf planet’s surface

Virgin plans big numbers, small satellites and low launch costs.

Remerging from bankruptcy, LightSquared has its sights set on proving its hybrid terrestrial/satellite communications network can coexist with GPS, rekindling debate over harmful interference.

Lab tests show potential of power-beamed thruster to be more efficient than conventional chemical rocket, potentially enabling a fully reusable spaceplane launch vehicle.

Reusability is the focus for SpaceX, ULA, Airbus and others to make space transport more affordable, but they all take different approaches to reach the same goal

Designated Kepler 452b, the planet is probably rocky, 60% larger than Earth and orbits its star – a G2 type like Earth’s Sun – every 385 days. It is the closest Earth-like exoplanet yet found.