Iridium Communications has initiated final measures to prepare for the June 25 launch of the second batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Get Connected reported Monday. “Once deployed, this batch of satellites will be tested and validated and inserted one-by-one into our existing constellation, replacing our original block one satellites,” said Matt […] More

An Earth observation platform developed by a Teledyne Technologies subsidiary has been installed on the International Space Station to host imaging, technology demonstration and space qualification payloads. The Multi-User System for Earth Sensing platform from Teledyne Brown Engineering launched with SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 rocket in early June and has completed an initial operational assessment at the space station, Teledyne said Tuesday. MUSES, which orbits approximately 250 miles […] More

Sierra Nevada Corp. has completed the third integration review for the Dream Chaser spacecraft as part of the company’s Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract with NASA. The company said Thursday the integration assessment for the space vehicle covers the completion of the agency’s phase 1 safety evaluation and NASA’s approval of 16 safety data packages and 32 hazard reports […] More

Iridium Communications has moved from June 29 to June 25 the launch of the second batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites aboard a SpaceX-built Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The new target date will advance the launch of the satellites by four days, Iridium said Thursday. “Satellites have already started to arrive at the launch […] More

SES has integrated a NASA instrument payload equipped with an ultraviolet imaging spectrograph onto the company’s SES-14 geostationary communications satellite. The Global-Scale Observations of the Limb and Disk instrument’s spectrograph is designed to measure temperatures and densities in the Earth’s ionosphere and thermosphere to investigate ionospheric disruptions to navigation and communication transmissions, SES said Tuesday. SES-14 is built to provide C– […] More

Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch, senior vice president for government strategy and policy at Inmarsat, has said the launch of the fourth Boeing-built satellite for the Global Xpress satellite communications network seeks to validate Inmarsat’s efforts to promote resilience within its satcom offerings. The Inmarsat-5 F4 satellite lifted off Monday aboard a SpaceX-made Falcon 9 rocket from a launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center […] More

The fourth Boeing-built broadband communications satellite launched into space Monday to join Inmarsat’s Global Xpress satellite communications network. The Inmarsat-5 F4 satellite took off aboard a SpaceX-made Falcon 9 rocket at 7:21 p.m. Eastern time from a launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and transmitted telemetry data to a ground station in Perth, Western […] More

The Center for a New American Security has launched a new project that aims to analyze how the U.S. joint force should adapt to technological innovations of potential state and non-state adversaries. CNAS said Monday the Evolving the Future Force project is part of the center’s Defense Strategies and Assessments program and seeks to explore the […] More

Iridium Communications CEO Matt Desch has said eight of the first 10 Iridium NEXT satellites that took off in January began to provide data and voice transmission service between March and mid-April, Spaceflight Now reported Friday. Stephen Clark writes Desch said at a quarterly earnings call Thursday that engineers have begun to reposition the two other satellites […] More

Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK’s space systems group, has said the company expects NASA to decide soon on whether to use its Antares vehicle or the United Launch Alliance-built Atlas V rocket in Cygnus spacecraft’s future cargo missions as part of the Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract, Space News reported Tuesday. Jeff Foust writes Culbertson […] More

The U.S. Air Force has introduced an open-source initiative to gather input from interested companies on how to modernize the service branch’s Global Positioning System, Space News reported Friday. Phillip Swarts writes Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, military deputy for acquisition at the Air Force, said the Plug Fest program seeks potential traditional and nontraditional partners that can help the […] More

Boeing has launched a parachute system of its crew capsule at Spaceport America‘s purpose-built commercial spaceport in New Mexico to verify the inflation characteristics and landing system performance of the platform during touchdown. Spaceport America said Friday the CST-100 Starliner Parachute System Test Launch utilized a giant helium-filled balloon that carried a flight-sized boilerplate spacecraft 40,000 feet above the San Andres Mountains and […] More