Space

Software testbeds developed by Ball Aerospace and BAE Systems are evaluating a new app-based approach to situational awareness and command and control in space.

Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) is growing its space aspirations by taking over the command and control of UK military space operations.

Spacecraft software for drones, DARPA’s Gremlins on show, gunship launches drone, AACUS in action, HorseFly drone delivers, and recovery parachute for eVTOLs.

ULA piecing together Vulcan rocket; Israeli Air Force’s transport upgrade; Saab builds Gripen facility in Brazil, and Indonesia receives two more maritime patrollers.

Simultaneous solicitations for payloads and flight services could return U.S. to the lunar surface as early as 2019.

SpaceX plans novel test of booster’s reusability by flying it twice in 24 hr.

During a 1997 flyby of Jupiter moon Europa, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft appears to have flown through an eruptive watery plume over 600 mi. long, a study says.

Made In Space, Inc. plans to advance its Vulcan Advanced Hybrid Manufacturing System for the in-space production of precision aerospace-grade metal parts.

Emiratis, Hazza Al Mansouri and Sultan Al Nayadi, have been selected as the first Arab Nationals to visit the International Space Station.

British space companies are being barred from tendering for Galileo contracts as Brexit approaches.

The SSL-1300 has been the chassis for 120 communication satellites. Now, one is being designed to fly to Psyche, a metal world in the main asteroid belt.

NASA is kicking off a return to the Moon, with instruments and payloads possibly ready to fly as early as next year.

The USAF intends to award contracts to Lockheed and Northrop to build five sats that will form the basis of an interim space-based missile warning system.

The Canadian Space Agency has selected NanoRacks, LLC, for the launch and deployments of up to 15 small satellites from the ISS as part of a student initiative.

By measuring seismic waves, scientists hope to learn what lies beneath the surface of the red planet.

The Yahsat Al Yah 3 satellite is on target to reach its final orbital slot by June, despite the Ariane 5 rocket used to loft it into space experiencing a launch anomaly. Steve Nichols reports.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V blasted off from a fog-shrouded launchpad at Vandenberg AFB, California, on May 5 to send NASA’s InSight spacecraft and a pair of experimental cubesats on their way to Mars.

The British government is considering establishing its own constellation of navigation satellites.

Space officials seek to inspire a new generation of engineers who can travel to space or develop new technologies for energy and water conservation.

Military budget grows fastest in Asia and Middle East, Greece adjusts F-16 upgrade plans, Lockheed fires up fourth SBIRS satellite, and India’s Tejas tests air-to-air missile.

Firefly Aerospace is targeting an operational tempo of one mission every two weeks as it ramps up tests of the Lightning and Reaver engines.

SpaceX’s Block 5 is optimized for rapid reusability and multiple reflights, designed to meet the needs of its U.S. government and commercial customers.

The U.S. GAO has cited a troubling trend in cost and schedule growth among 26 major NASA projects, with a combined cost estimate of $61 billion.

The fourth satellite of the U.S. Air Force’s Space Based Infrared System constellation has achieved “first light,” beaming back its first images to Earth.

Engineers have completed performance testing of a prototype nuclear fission reactor capable of producing 1 kW of electricity, NASA said.