After being the monopoly rocket supplier to the U.S. government for national security launches for nearly 10 years, the tables have turned for United Launch Alliance.
Though the bulk of ULA’s work is still with the U.S. government and will remain so for years to come, CEO Tory Bruno is posturing the company to be more competitive in the commercial market.
A paradigm shift is underway, whereby historical players from the old military-industrial complex are bound to become marginalized and lose out to the new players of the digital economy.
The Mars ascent vehicle (MAV) will be very different from the ascent stage of the Apollo Lunar Module, the only craft ever to carry humans off the surface of another planetary body.
Given the success of the five-nation ISS partnership, the new director-general of the European Space Agency is hopeful any successor to the orbiting outpost will be founded on international cooperation. To this end, he has proposed a free-flying science lab that would continue ISS micro-gravity research in low Earth orbit while advancing technologies for orbital-debris mitigation. He has also floated a so-called “Moon Village” mission on the dark side of the lunar surface, offering the potential to further research and technology development in a low-gravity environment using humans, robots, or both.
Spectroscopic data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have confirmed that dark streaks appearing on Martian slopes are the result of liquid water.
Spurred by consumer demand, enabled by consumer electronics, cubesats are becoming more capable and commercially viable, says Scotland-based developer Clyde Space.
The closure of Ex-Im leaves only one U.S. spacecraft builder able to obtain export financing: Palo Alto-based Space Systems/Loral, whose Canadian parent company can tap financial backing from Export Development Canada, even if construction of the satellite is performed in the U.S.
The technical centerpiece of China’s new launchers, the YF-100 engine, has now flown in the smallest member of the family, Long March 6. The rapid-response solid-propellant launcher Long March 11, meanwhile, should fly imminently.
For the foreseeable future, national security space launches will keep the United Launch Alliance and enginemaker Aerojet in business. But the outlook down the road is full of change and opportunity, as Blue Origin plans to build a new launch vehicle and test facility in Florida and will team up with ULA on a new Vulcan rocket.
