Space Force selects vendors for suborbital launch services
Original Publication Date: 2024-01-27 10:33
Kratos Space & Missile Defense Systems, L3Harris' Aerojet Rocketdyne Coleman Aerospace. Corvid Technologies awarded indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contracts. Sounding rockets are small test vehicles that carry scientific payloads. The companies will bid for task orders to provide suborbital launch services.
Virgin Galactic launches four private astronauts as it prepares to end Unity flights
Original Publication Date: 2024-01-26 23:08
Virgin Galactic conducted its first suborbital mission of 2024 on Jan. 26. The flight, called Galactic 06 by Virgin Galactic, carried four customers for the first time. Virgin Galactic announced it would soon wind down flights of VSS Unity. The company plans to retire VSS Unity and shift resources into Delta-class vehicle development.
FCC reaffirms orbital debris mitigation rules
Original Publication Date: 2024-01-26 20:46
The FCC voted unanimously to approve an order on reconsideration of rules it adopted in 2020. The order was a response to three petitions from industry seeking changes to the rules. The order “will uphold the current regulatory environment for orbital debris mitigation,” FCC says.
US seeks dismissal of Ligado’s $40 billion roadblocked 5G spectrum claim
Original Publication Date: 2024-01-26 20:06
Ligado Networks is seeking $40 billion in damages over derailed 5G network plans. Ligado is suing the United States and a group of federal agencies. Ligado claims they roadblocked efforts to deploy assigned L-band satellite spectrum terrestrially. Ligado put its terrestrial wireless plans on hold after a review.
Satellites and the specter of IoT attacks
Original Publication Date: 2024-01-26 15:30
Satellites form the critical infrastructure that supports global communication, navigation, weather forecasting, defensive operations and more. Internet of Things (IoT) components are integral to next-generation satellites. A security breach in one satellite can have cascading effects on others to which it is connected. The prospect of a satellite being targeted by other satellites as well as by terrestrial-based attacks is a disturbing reality.
New effort seeks to study health issues for private astronauts
Original Publication Date: 2024-01-26 13:15
Medical researchers, commercial spaceflight advocates want to study health risks of private space travel. Meeting discussed proposal to establish Human Research Program for Civilians in Spaceflight and Space Habitation. HRP-C would collect medical data from spaceflight participants and conduct research on potential risks.
What You Need to Know about NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Mission
Original Publication Date: 2024-01-26 10:01
NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The flight is the eighth crew rotation mission with SpaceX to station, and the ninth human spaceflight as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
NASA’s LRO Spots Japan’s Moon Lander
Original Publication Date: 2024-01-26 14:00
On Jan. 19, 2024, at 10:20 a.m. EST, the JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) landed on the lunar surface. Five days later, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft passed over the landing site and photographed SLIM. The image is 2,887 feet wide (880 meters), and lunar north is up.