Lockheed Martin on Nov. 23 announced the Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (NGG) Block 0 program passed its system-level critical design review, keeping pace for the first launch in 2025.
Launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, the $11 billion, U.S.-led successor to the Hubble observatory, is being delayed at least four days to no earlier than Dec. 22 to allow time for additional analysis following a mishap during processing the telescope for launch in French Guiana.
Astra Space, a California-based startup staking a claim in the burgeoning small-satellite launch business, completed a successful flight test of its Rocket 3.1 booster on Nov. 20, a mission backed by the U.S. Space Force.
Voyager Space, a private equity-backed holding company of new-space upstarts such as Nanoracks, announced Nov. 22 it has acquired a majority stake in Space Micro, a satellite communications specialist for NASA and the U.S. military.
The mission is a bold attempt to demonstrate whether a spacecraft traveling at high velocity can slam into an asteroid with enough kinetic energy to knock it off course—an ability that could one day enable humanity to counter objects that pose an impact threat to Earth.
Northrop Grumman’s 16th NASA-contracted Cygnus resupply mission capsule departed the International Space Station on Nov. 20, ending a stay of just more than three months and setting up an experiment intended to improve the modeling of spacecraft thermal protection systems.
The Space Development Agency (SDA) is looking forward to 2022 as a year of massive growth, integration into the U.S. Space Force and the first launches of its Tranche 0 transport layer satellites. But many of its plans could be in limbo as Congress faces an impending deadline to pass a spending bill.
Sierra Space’s expansive goal of developing a space transport and habitation ecosystem has received a major boost with the successful raising of a $1.4 billion Series A capital investment.
SpaceX plans about a dozen flights of its super heavy-lift, reusable Starship launch system in 2022, beginning with an orbital flight test in January or February.
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket deployed a pair of Earth-observation satellites into orbit for BlackSky on Nov. 17, a mission that also tested helicopter operations for future midair booster recoveries.
NASA has selected Intuitive Machines for the integration, delivery and operational oversight of four science payloads to the Moon’s Reiner Gamma in 2024 using the company’s Nova-C lander under a $77.5 million fixed-price contract.
Russia’s Nov. 15 test of a direct ascent anti-satellite missile, which destroyed a satellite and created a new field of debris, shows the U.S. needs to change its approach to space situational awareness away from simply tracking what debris is already in orbit to actively looking for what might be trying to evade detection and new threats, top U.S. space officials said.
NASA has assigned Jessica Watkins to its Crew-4 mission, a planned April launch by Commercial Crew Program contractor SpaceX of four U.S. and European astronauts to the International Space Station for a six-month tour of duty.
Los Angeles-based Inversion, a space startup focusing on the return-to-Earth side of operations, has closed its $10 million seed round, the company announced Nov. 16.
When there are space-related accidents on Earth, which there will be as the space economy grows, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board wants to be ready with codified procedures for investigating, according to a new announcement from officials.
The Air Force Research Laboratory recently awarded its largest-ever contract for space-related technology development, providing up to $1 billion to Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory.
NASA has awarded the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy a sole-source, $215 million contract extension for operational support of the Hubble Space Telescope. Meanwhile, the agency is also working to recover the orbital observatory’s full science operations.
Satellite servicing startup Astroscale has unveiled a docking plate it hopes will become standard on all future low Earth orbit satellites to enable their capture and removal from orbit.
