Space

Asteroid-mission development will shape human/machine teaming for exploration.

Preparations are underway to begin testing a small-sat launcher dubbed Electron that would use the turbomachinery and other innovations to hold the cost per mission below $5 million.

This new rocket is the company’s path to substantially reduce its cost to launch — a critical factor as the company’s monopoly over national security launches is eroding — and compete against SpaceX.

The U.S. Air Force claims the new LISC deal could save up to $1.8 billion over 10 years, although skeptics question how.

Ahead of next week's Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, our editors discuss the latest on an American-built engine to send U.S. national security assets to space, competition between ULA and Space X, the state of U.S.-Russian relations and more.

Blue Origin plans to begin autonomous flight tests later this year with the reusable New Shepard suborbital human spacecraft it will power.

A new concept puts Mars in reach with today’s NASA budget. The trick is a stop in Martian orbit, and a flight-test landing on Earth’s Moon.

Just because parts can be produced faster with 3-D printing does not mean engineers can cut corners validating their properties, an additive manufacturing expert warns.

The Rise and Fall of a Launch Monopoly?

U.S. Air Force Secretary discusses creating an apples-to-apples comparison of ULA and SpaceX launch cost, embracing public-private partnerships for a new rocket engine and developing trust with new market entrants.

Blue Origin has completed acceptance flight tests of its cryogenic BE-3 deep-throttle engine, and plans to begin autonomous flight tests with the reusable New Shepard suborbital human spacecraft it will power later this year.

Smallsats in low Earth orbit have captured the interest of deep-pocket investors who see new technologies and applications offering substantial returns.

John Logsdon’s Nixon-tape transcripts show how the decision to build the space shuttle was derailed by dishonesty.

Russia may be open to Chinese participation in future space collaboration.

NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Directorate has agreed to address a dozen corrective recommendations raised by the agency’s Inspector General with regard to upgrade needs and increased security for the Deep Space Network, a 52-year-old global assembly of transmitters and receivers for communications with and navigation of distant planetary spacecraft.

USAF and SpaceX are modifying the Cooperative Research and Development Agreement signed two years ago to outline what has become the contentious process to certify the Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket for use in launching national security payloads.

A new problem may have emerged to push the Long March 7 first flight into 2016.

Commercial fleet operator SES is talking to Lockheed Martin and other suppliers about the potential to service spacecraft in geostationary orbit.

Moth inspires agile thinking; aerospike rocket looks for liftoff; tethered UAVs for safer cities; Amazon a step closer to delivery drones and other unmanned news

Driving down the costs of electronically steered phased arrays opens up new commercial and military opportunities.

Aviation Week editors discuss how private sector money and technological advances are revolutionizing space telecom.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr., a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, presented Aviation Week’s Tomorrow’s Leaders Award to students of four U.S. military services academies who have demonstrated overall excellence as well as a keen interest in pursuing various careers in aerospace.

Snowstorm shuts down Washington but fails to halt Aviation Week’s 58th annual Laureate awards ceremony, which salutes aerospace sector’s high achievers.

The European Space Agency was awarded Aviation Week’s 2015 Space Laureate for getting up close and personal with a comet—landing a robotic space probe on its surface and gleaning a wealth of information.

David W. Thompson and a pair of classmates from Harvard Business School launched Orbital Sciences Corp. in 1982 to, as they put it, ‘bring the benefits of space down to Earth.’ The company, with Thompson still at the helm, continues to innovate and expand its vision.