AE Industrial Partners, a U.S. private equity firm active in aerospace and defense, said Feb. 24 that it had struck deal to buy a “significant” stake in embattled rocket startup Firefly Aerospace from investment group Noosphere Venture Partners.
NASA is aiming to roll out its first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to Kennedy Space Center’s (KSC) Launch Complex 39B on March 17 for a key tanking test ahead of launch no sooner than late May on the Artemis I mission.
The U.S. Space Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a $341 million contract to develop, test and deliver a new Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability for enhanced space situational awareness.
NASA and its HeroX crowdsource partner are proceeding with the second phase of a multiyear competition seeking innovative engineering concepts for the integration of electrical power transmission and energy storage in support of the agency’s Artemis initiative.
Northrop Grumman is taking the next step in its space servicing business, SpaceLogistics, with the sale of its first Mission Extension Pod and a launch agreement with SpaceX for a Mission Robotic Vehicle.
Working on behalf of NASA, crowdsourcing veterans HeroX and DrivenData have announced a new competition, “Mars Spectrometry: Detect Evidence for Past Life.”
Northrop Grumman’s 17th NASA-contracted Cygnus resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is set for a Feb. 19 launch from the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, to deliver 8,300 lb. of cargo and perform the first station orbit-boosting to use U.S. hardware.
Space tourist company Virgin Galactic, whose stock price has been on a proverbial roller coaster in recent months, said Feb. 18 that Chamath Palihapitiya is no longer chairman of the board or even a member.
Europe is set to develop its own satellite constellation for secure and resilient communications that will improve its capacity to monitor satellites and debris.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is seeking information from satellite tracking companies about data products and services they could provide to support a repository of satellite information.
Max Polyakov, a Ukrainian co-founder of launch company Firefly Aerospace, said he handed off his majority stake in the startup to co-founder and CEO Tom Markusik under pressure from U.S. officials.
Russia’s MS-19 Progress resupply capsule successfully docked with the seven-person International Space Station early Feb. 17, completing the delivery of a nearly 3-ton cargo, including food, water, propellant and other supplies and research equipment.
SpaceLink, of McLean, Virginia, has selected Houston-based commercial space station developer Axiom Space to demonstrate an end-to-end optical communications relay service for the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, which manages the U.S. National Laboratory elements of the International Space Station.
Orbital Sidekick has validated an upgrade to its existing hyperspectral satellite sensors and is announcing an investment by national security startup seed funder In-Q-Tel.
Former NASA shuttle-era astronauts David Leestma, Sandra Magnus and Chris Ferguson will be formally inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame on June 10, the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation says.
