Inspections are underway of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, which rode out a Category I hurricane at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B, with launch on the Artemis I flight test still targeted for Nov. 16.
In a joint technology demonstration, United Launch Alliance and NASA tested a 20-ft.-dia. inflatable heat shield that is intended to pave the way for a future rocket engine recovery system for ULA and a system for NASA to land heavy, human-class missions on Mars, among other uses.
Advanced Space LLC will demonstrate a spacecraft at a location about 200,000 mi. from Earth that can monitor other objects in the cislunar region, the Air Force Research Laboratory announced on Nov 10.
Astra Space on Nov. 8 announced layoffs of 16% of its workforce and $119 million in write-downs of assets as the struggling rocket startup seeks a “financial runway” into 2024 amid a major business plan change.
Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 8 stepped up preparations for Tropical Storm Nicole, which is expected to bring sustained winds of at least 39 mph to the area.
Intelsat is turning to Switzerland-based SWISSto12 to provide a small geostationary satellite outfitted with 12 Ku-band transponders for regional communications services.
Shortly after its liftoff early Nov. 7 from NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus International Space Station resupply capsule experienced a difficulty with the deployment of the second of its two solar arrays.
The Antares' cargo delivery of 8,265 lb. represents an increased launch capability of about 154 lb. (70 kg) due to modifications to the rocket’s secondary support structure.
An independent review board has concluded that a number of factors—including communications lapses, a lack of staffing, budget challenges and pandemic-related workplace culture changes—contributed to NASA’s delay in launching the $985 million Psyche mission to a metal-rich asteroid until October 2023.
Astrobotic says it has validated the Optical Precision Autonomous Landing hardware and flight software for its NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services Peregrine Mission-1 lunar landing, planned for early 2023.
The chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission announced Nov. 3 that she would reorganize the agency to create a standalone Space Bureau to better support the needs of the growing satellite industry.
Virgin Galactic is set to return its first SpaceShipTwo spaceplane VSS Unity to test flights in the coming months following the completion of upgrade work and says it remains on track to begin the long-delayed start of commercial spaceflights in the second quarter of 2023.
A low-cost positioning, navigation and timing service that would use the same L-band frequency range as the Global Positioning System could be installed on hundreds of military satellites in low Earth orbit, the Space Development Agency revealed on Nov. 3.
Bell will supply the vehicle’s feathering system and flight control surfaces while Texas-based structures specialist Qarbon Aerospace will produce the fuselage and wing.
