NASA has finished a critical design review of a heavy-lift rocket designed to carry the Orion crew capsule to deep space destinations such as Mars. The assessment was for Space Launch System Block 1 configuration and marked the first time that NASA has completed a rocket CDR since it launched the Saturn V mission almost four […] More

Brian McKeon helps lead Booz Allen Hamilton‘s systems engineering and integration work for the U.S. Army in his role as an executive vice president at the McLean, Va.-based consulting contractor. He oversees a portfolio that emphasizes C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) offerings in the Army market for Booz Allen. In this conversation with ExecutiveBiz, McKeon […] More

Northrop Grumman has completed the production and assembly of the spacecraft bus for NASA‘s James Webb Space Telescope at Northrop’s Redondo Beach facility in California. The company said Thursday the structure is made of carbon fiber composites and works to integrate Webb’s optical telescope, instrument electronics and sunshield. It also houses the propulsion system, communications system and electrical power, and mounts Webb […] More

United Launch Alliance has launched a National Reconnaissance Office payload and 13 CubeSats for the Government Rideshare Advanced Concepts Experiment aboard an Atlas V rocket as part of the NROL-55 mission. The Boeing–Lockheed Martin joint venture said Thursday the mission is in support of national defense and is the company’s 10th launch since the beginning of the year. Jim […] More

Ball Aerospace & Technologies has completed the integration of an Aerojet Rocketdyne-built propulsion subsystem into a small satellite Ball is building for NASA‘s Green Propellant Infusion Mission. NASA aims to launch the Ball Commercial Platform-100 spacecraft equipped with Aerojet Rocketdyne’s Green Propellant Propulsion System into orbit next year, Ball Aerospace said Monday. Aerojet Rocketdyne delivered […] More

Orbital ATK has completed the initial testing phase for a 22 Newton thruster designed to navigate satellites while in the Earth’s orbit. The company said Tuesday it evaluated the 22N along with the 5N thruster onboard a green propulsion platform in a series of tests at NASA‘s Alabama-based Marshall Space Flight Center. LMP-103S rocket fuel from Sweden-based company […] More

United Launch Alliance has worked with the U.S. Air Force to implement off-site vertical integration on the Atlas V rocket’s Centaur upper stage and other structural components. The company said Tuesday OVI works to drive down the number of lifting operations at the Cape Canaveral Vertical Integration Facility and relocate them indoors to the Delta Operations Center. These […] More

The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency has validated a General Atomics-built laser system for a series of field tests after the company and DARPA completed he program’s laboratory development phase. DARPA said Thursday the High-Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System is scheduled for ground-based field testing in summer under joint funds from the agency and […] More

A new report from Forbes Insights and Microsoft predicts a surge in the adoption of cloud-based technologies among government agencies driven by scalability and potential cost savings. Forbes said Thursday the report titled From Promise to Reality: How Local, State and Federal Government Agencies Achieve Results in the Cloud shows familiarity with the technology, accreditation and the […] More

NASA has launched two solicitations worth nearly $50 million combined for new space technologies intended to advance science and human exploration missions. The space agency said Friday it plans to form a public-private partnership to develop and market commercial space systems under the tipping point technologies solicitation. Under this program with a submission deadline of […] More

IBM has introduced a line of Power System servers and a range of storage systems designed to help clients facilitate processing of large-scale data in hybrid cloud settings. IBM Power System E850 can manage 4-terabyte databases, while IBM PurePower System can run with OpenStack open-source cloud computing software and has virtualization hypervisor with no record […] More

Raytheon has entered full-rate production of its Standard Missile-6 rocket for the U.S. Navy at the company’s Redstone Arsenal production facility in Alabama. “Full-rate production allows us to significantly ramp up production and deliver to the U.S. Navy the quantities it needs to further increase operational effectiveness,” Mike Campisi, SM-6 senior program director at Raytheon, said Wednesday. The SM-6 […] More