The Pentagon has a new China Task Force headed by Ely Ratner, a former adviser to President Joe Biden, that is charged with assessing whether the Defense Department is poised to outpace China in a “technology competition.”
As it proceeds with the largely in-house development of a third-generation spacesuit, NASA plans to turn to a commercial provider once it has evaluated the prototype garment aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and carried out Artemis III, a return to the Moon’s surface with humans.
Israeli security agencies are investigating 20 people including several from the Israeli defense industry over the illegal development, production and sale of loitering weapons for an unnamed Asian country.
Germany will decide on the selection of a new fleet of heavy-lift helicopters before the summer of 2021, a position paper on the transformation of Germany’s armed forces states.
Wireless charging system developer WiBotic on Feb. 10 announced an energy management software platform for fleet operators of drones and other robotic vehicles.
Northrop will combine its skillset in digital engineering with an “extensive knowledge in advanced technology weapons, autonomous systems and strike platforms to increase weapon range and effectiveness,” said Jaime Engdahl, Northrop’s program director for kinetic weapons and emerging capabilities.
China’s Tianwen-1 mother ship arrived in Martian orbit on Feb. 10, setting the stage for a multi-spacecraft exploration initiative during the country’s first visit to the red planet.
The U.S. Space Force is looking to industry for a tactically responsive launch provider for two future missions and set a cost cap of $7.5 million for each launch.
Garmin International said Feb. 10 that Joby Aviation has selected the Garmin G3000 integrated avionics suite for the electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle it is developing.
Newly formed Karman Missile & Space Systems, a large pure-play supplier for the space, missile, interceptor and hypersonic markets, is bulking up just weeks into its existence with the acquisition of AAE Aerospace, a manufacturer of high-temperature composites for the missile, interceptor, and space sectors.
After a shaky 2020, the outlook for space from government and commercial perspectives looks more favorable, though not without notable challenges, a lineup of experienced players from the two sectors say.
Russia wants to renew its space tourism activities by offering dedicated commercial missions to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Soyuz rockets.
Urban air mobility startup Archer is to go public in a deal that will raise up to $1.1 billion to fund commercialization of the company’s all-electric air taxi.
NASA on Feb. 9 awarded SpaceX a $331 million contract for Falcon Heavy launch and support services to send the first two modules of its planned Gateway outpost toward lunar orbit.
With one of its two U.S. commercial space taxi lines not yet operational, NASA is considering bartering for an extra seat on a Russian Soyuz capsule slated to launch in April or May to the International Space Station (ISS), the agency said Feb. 9.
Spatial disorientation of the pilot led to the fatal crash of a Sikorsky S-76B helicopter in hilly terrain northwest of Los Angeles in January 2020 that killed basketball legend Kobe Bryant and eight others, the NTSB has found.
The U.S. Navy is adding 16 refurbished Harpoon Block IC missiles to its inventory to expand the anti-ship missile capacity of its Los Angeles-class submarine fleet.
Telesat has awarded a $3 billion contact to Thales Alenia Space to build its planned 298-member low Earth orbit broadband constellation, named Lightspeed.
Turkey will send a probe to make a hard landing on the Moon in 2023 as part of celebrations of the country’s centenary, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is asking the Pentagon to launch a formal investigation into four fatal UH-60 crashes to determine whether there is a systemic problem with the helicopter.
Northrop will engage in an analysis of alternatives for the Advanced Air Refueling program by Air Mobility Command, which is scheduled to begin in 2022.
The Emirates Mars Mission Hope spacecraft completed a 27-min. braking burn to put itself into orbit on Feb. 9, earning the United Arab Emirates a place in history as the first Arab nation to successfully reach the red planet.
