Space

Despite cancellation of Google X Prize, Israeli nonprofit aiming for April touchdown on the Moon.

Following up on the legacy of NASA’s aging Great Observatories may depend on breaking a cost spiral that has delayed the JWST and threatened the WFIRST.

Acknowledging the reusable rocket technology pioneered by SpaceX and Blue Origin, the U.S. Air Force has dropped the word “expendable” from the name of its orbital launch services acquisition program.

To support its efforts to empower and encourage youth to take an interest in space science, The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) has launched the ‘Science in Space’ competition, in coordination with NanoRacks LLC.

The new vehicle, Dragon 2, is designed, built, owned and operated by SpaceX, with financial backing, technical expertise and oversight provided by NASA.

As NASA gears up for first U.S. human spaceflights since 2011, a training tool from the ‘60s is back in vogue.

Virgin Galactic targets assured repeatability as test focus expands beyond envelope expansion to include cabin environment and ride quality.

At last, a U.S spaceship for orbital human flight is ready for a test run to ISS.

Jean-Pascal Le Franc, CNES Director of Planning, International Relations and Quality, and Valanathan Munsami, CEO of the South African National Space Agency SANSA, signed an agreement outlining future space cooperation between France and South Africa in Pretoria.

The flight was crewed by Virgin Galactic chief pilot Dave McKay alongside lead trainer pilot Mike Masucci, with Beth Moses, chief astronaut instructor, monitoring conditions in the passenger cabin.

One of Aviation Week’s 20 Twenties in 2014 is now a mechanical test engineering manager for Northrop Grumman’s James Webb Space Telescope program.

China’s Insitu look-alike, HAL displays utility helo mockup; the U.S. Air Force’s space force, and Saab may sign on to UK fighter concept.

Company takes on Iridium, GlobalStar with cheap narrowband communications via nanosatellites.

In the quest to provide commercial suborbital spaceflight services to paying passengers, Blue Origin’s New Shepard has one clear advantage over Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, notes Blue founder Jeff Bezos: It flies higher, rendering moot a debate about the boundary of space.

With the market for large geostationary satellites in a slump, heritage companies expand options for smallsat ride-shares.

Lured by the prospect of thousands of small satellites needing rides to orbit, private launchers line up.

Perhaps the gods of capitalism demanded one real sacrifice on the altar of total shareholder return. If so, let us hope Arconic satiates them.

In early February, a delegation of Roscosmos State Corp. visited Vostochny spaceport in Russia’s Far East, the site of a new launch pad for the future super-heavy rocket that will be used for planned flights to the Moon.

Long-running efforts to re-establish communications with NASA’s intrepid Opportunity rover on Mars have come to a close.

This Anglo-Danish startup describes how production, architecture and propellant are working together to drive efficiency.

The Long March 3A-series program, busier than ever, has probably never performed so well. Replacement is planned, however.

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel is sounding an urgent note as the agency’s Commercial Crew Program prepares for test flights of SpaceX and Boeing vehicles.

The UAE Space Agency has concluded its participation in the third Aqdar World Summit, held in Moscow from August 29 to September 1 under the theme "Global Empowerment of Communities: Experiences and Lessons Learned.”

Hazzaa AlMansoori, the first Emirati astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) on September 25, and Sultan AlNeyadi, the back-up astronaut for the same mission, successfully completed their final tests for the mission at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, in Star City, in Moscow.

This year’s winners will be recognized March 14 at a black-tie gala in Washington, when the Grand Laureates and Lifetime Achievement awards also will be presented.