U.S. Space Force

By Brian Everstine
UK Royal Air Force Air Marshal Paul Godfrey most recently served as the first commander of UK Space Command.
GASCC & RIAT

By Brian Everstine
Frank Kendall has spent his time as secretary working to reshape the Air Force—but will his work outlast him?
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Graham Warwick
Photonic navigation sensors; Airbus and quantum computing; in-space refueling; alternatives to GPS for PNT.
Emerging Technologies

By Vivienne Machi
The U.S. Space Force has awarded contracts to Blue Origin and Stoke Space under the Orbital Services Program (OSP)-4 effort.
Space

By Vivienne Machi
Orbit Fab has successfully demonstrated the automated docking of its in-space refueling technology.
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz
The ULA Vulcan-Centaur rocket being prepared to fly a dual-purpose mission this fall arrived at Cape Canaveral on June 24 ahead of a planned September launch.
Commercial Space

By Vivienne Machi
U.S. Space Command wants to launch a pilot program that can parse out and fuse together data coming off of commercial and government remote sensing assets.
Space

By Vivienne Machi
Northrop Grumman has delivered the two-satellite constellation to the Space Force, targeting mid-July for liftoff onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
Space

By Vivienne Machi
The agency needs more than the Defense Department’s space collision avoidance services to keep its satellites out of harm’s way.
Space

By Vivienne Machi, Irene Klotz
The newcomer joins incumbents ULA and SpaceX on the Space Force’s launch vendor list.
Space

By Vivienne Machi
The service is exploring the future of narrowband satellite communications as its legacy Mobile User Objective System approaches the end of its life span.
Space

By Vivienne Machi
The Space Force has awarded contracts to Blue Origin, CACI International, General Atomics and Viasat to develop space laser-communication terminal prototypes.
Space

Boeing passed up bidding on a planned commercial variant of NASA’s Space Launch System Moon rocket for the U.S. Space Force’s NSSL Phase 3 program.
Space

By Vivienne Machi
Senators want a U.S. Space Force program executive office to manage the acquisition of satellites that can track both air and ground moving targets from orbit.
Budget, Policy & Regulation

By Vivienne Machi
RTX is no longer building satellites in the first phase of the U.S. Space Force’s missile-tracking satellite constellation.
Space

By Vivienne Machi
The U.S. Space Force has selected Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance (ULA), and SpaceX as the three service providers for Phase 3 of the NSSL program.
Space

By Vivienne Machi
“What we really need to focus on right now with the [Space Development Agency] is that [missile]-tracking layer,” a senior Space Force official says.
Space

By Vivienne Machi
The House Appropriations Committee plans to allocate billions of dollars to fund missile-warning-and-tracking initiatives in its fiscal 2025 bill.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Vivienne Machi
DIU is interested in partnerships with companies building radiation-tolerant and radiation-hardened microelectronics.
Space

By Vivienne Machi
The Space Force says Boeing and Northrop Grumman are the only bidders qualified to build the next-generation jam-resistant satcom payloads.
Space

By Brian Everstine
The U.S. Space Force has awarded Starfish Space a contract to launch and operate a new space tug as part of its broader push for in-orbit servicing.
Space

By Irene Klotz
SpaceX’s plan to launch its Starship-Super Heavy reusable Mars-class space transport from KSC will require a full environmental impact statement, the FAA said.
Space

By Matthew Fulco
The main surprise in the defense microelectronics manufacturer Mercury Systems' third-quarter fiscal 2024 earnings report was a net loss of $44.6 million.
Sensors & Electronic Warfare

By Garrett Reim
Each linkage features special adhesive similar to the feet of a gecko that allows the arms to grip objects.
Commercial Space

By Graham Warwick
Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.
Missile Defense & Weapons