DARPA sees government and private-sector agreement on standards for rendezvous and proximity operations as essential to development of a successful commercial on-orbit robotic satellite repair service.
With great maps from many sources, the head of the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency looks for new paths in an increasingly competitive environment.
New Zealand-based space launch company Rocket Lab has completed the qualification of the second stage of the Electron launch vehicle which will be lofted from a newly constructed site on the east coast of the country’s North Island.
Built for Paris-based Eutelsat and Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) of Bermuda, the electric propulsion spacecraft need eight months to reach their final orbit, creating a lag between their March 1 launch and their ability to generate revenue.
Despite its failure to thwart NASA’s selection of Boeing and SpaceX for commercial crew vehicles, Sierra Nevada will proceed with development of Dream Chaser.
Virgin Galactic is 90% through the structural build of its second SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle and plans to assume control of the test program from its development partner Scaled Composites when flights resume later this year.
Investigation team says 2 sec. before beginning to break up in midair, the vehicle's two moveable tail booms unexpectedly began to deploy into a feathering position.
