Satellites

Europe leans into climate science with new missions as U.S. turns away from such projects.

The U.S. Space Force on April 20 announced it is canceling its long-delayed GPS ground control system after lengthy speculation on its future.

Airbus, Radmor and Thales Alenia Space are joining forces to build a geostationary military communications satellite for Poland.

European military officials are in the closing stages of reviewing high-level requirements for the future Earth-observation constellation.

Air Force leaders say on-orbit data proves space-based moving target indication works amid new contracts and a $7 billion push to field new satellites rapidly.

The three spacecraft are aimed at climate science and boosting weather forecasting.

Australia has outlined new aerospace capability priorities in its updated National Defense Strategy, including air-launched hypersonic weapons.

Boeing and its subsidiary Millennium Space Systems have created a new satellite platform from existing company components, aiming to fill a gap in their current spacecraft offerings, the company announced April 16.

The Department of the Air Force has awarded the base contract for new space-based air moving target indication systems.

Lockheed Martin, one of several space companies vying for NASA’s Mars Telecommunications Network spacecraft requirement, now anticipates a request for proposals (RFP) from the agency sometime in May.

U.S. Space Command is beginning to craft a strategy focused on space-based maneuvering.

ESA is moving forward on a program to advance space-based laser communications across multiple orbital planes with a contract to Kepler Communications.

The U.S. Space Force’s senior acquisition official is telling industry to prepare for significant satellite production contracts should the fiscal 2027 budget request.

Rocket Lab on April 14 added a high-performance, Hall-effect satellite thruster to its growing catalog of space technologies and flight services.

Signals intelligence satellite specialist HawkEye 360 has secured a contract with NASA to help the agency study the radio frequency environment in low Earth orbit.

Viasat announced at AIX that it has entered Boeing’s technical evaluation process to assess and qualify its next-generation electronically steered antenna terminal AERA across all current Boeing commercial airplane programs.

Amazon has agreed to acquire Globalstar following rival SpaceX’s purchase of EchoStar spectrum in the intensifying battle to offer LEO broadband services.

BAE Systems is entering the space tug market, debuting a new vehicle it says will be capable of transporting cargo and small satellites to the Moon.

MDA Space is jumping into rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) spacecraft, with the introduction of a vehicle designed to maneuver and detect threats.

HawkEye 360 is joining the wave of space startups looking to go public.

Blue Origin is working toward an April 16 launch of its New Glenn rocket, which will carry AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite into low Earth orbit.

Space computing specialist Sophia Space has announced a strategic collaboration with Canadian satellite telecommunications provider Kepler Communications.

Vantor expands its Worldview Legion constellation with new 40 cm and 20 cm imaging satellites for persistent high-resolution monitoring.

Aviation Week editors covering commercial aviation and space convene to discuss how and why airlines are increasingly offering fast inflight Wi-Fi for free.

Portal Space Systems has raised $50 million in Series A funding to continue developing maneuverable satellites for multiple orbits, the company says.