A yearlong study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) stresses an urgency for assessing two nuclear propulsion options if the U.S. is to lead a multiyear human expedition to Mars in the late 2030s.
Redwire, a busy private equity funded space rollup, announced Feb. 23 it had acquired Deployable Space Systems, a provider of deployable solar arrays, structures and mechanisms for space applications.
After delays due to a launch failure and the COVID-19 crisis, Avio is proceeding with the development of an upgraded version of its light launcher, Vega C, planning on a three-year transition over 2021-24.
NASA has delayed the planned Feb. 25 full-duration hot fire of the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage due to a faulty valve in the system that supplies liquid oxygen to one of the vehicle’s four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines.
Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and pediatric cancer survivor, will fly along with entrepreneur and pilot Jared Isaacman on a chartered SpaceX Crew Dragon flight.
“This is the first time we’ve been able to actually capture an event like the landing of a spacecraft of Mars,” JPL Director Michael Watkins said at a Feb. 22 news conference.
A decade of durability and fatigue testing revealed that 30 parts on the F-35B could fail between 2,000 and 4,000 flight hours, or far short of the 8,000 flight hour service life required in the original development contract awarded to Lockheed in 2001.
The Defense Department inspector general is launching a probe into the U.S. Air Force’s decision to select Alabama as the home of U.S. Space Command headquarters.
European missile manufacturer MBDA and Emirati defense firm Tawazun have signed agreements that could lead to the joint design and development of the SmartGlider family of glide bombs.
The Israeli government has confirmed it will acquire a third squadron of Lockheed Martin F-35s as well as heavy-lift helicopters and advanced munitions as part of its new arms procurement program to update the Israeli Defense Forces.
Northrop Grumman’s 15th NASA-contracted Cygnus resupply mission successfully rendezvoused with the International Space Station (ISS) early Feb. 22, enabling astronauts on board to grapple the freighter and its 8,400 lb. cargo with the orbiting lab’s Canadian robot arm.
Emirati defense company Edge Group has unveiled a range of indigenously developed loitering munitions and a surface-launched anti-ship missile, demonstrating local advances in weapons development.
A Nigerian military plane crashed on Sunday morning killing seven people. The aircraft is understood to have crashed short of the runway in Abuja after reporting engine failure.
Despite the fact that the U.S. Air Force is advocating for a Pentagon-wide tactical aircraft study that may push the service to purchase cheaper airframes, Lockheed Martin maintains the F-35 will achieve a $25,000 flight hour goal by 2025 as long as the military signs a performance-based logistics contract.
U.S. Air Force leadership from Air Combat Command and Air Force Materiel Command have requested a meeting with F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) leadership and subject matter experts to discuss options and impacts of F135 depot capacity and sustainment concerns.
Boeing’s T-7A already “flies like a fighter” and would require several minor modifications to be adapted from an advanced jet trainer into a combat role, the company’s program manager said.
With NASA’s newest Mars rover safely on the ground, surface operations teams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have replaced the flight control team that oversaw Perseverance’s Feb. 18 pinpoint landing inside Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient lake.
Northrop Grumman’s 15th NASA-contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station is undergoing preparations for a Feb. 20 launch from the agency’s Wallops Island Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
