CAES will deliver mission flight computer and radiation hardened microelectronics to Astrobotic for use on the space robotics company’s Peregrine and Griffin landers scheduled to conduct missions on the Moon in 2022 and 2023. GR712RC is a LEON3FT SPARC V8 flight control processor built by CAES to provide landers with low power, multi-core capability, the […] More

Astrobotic has selected through a competitive acquisition process SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to launch its Griffin lunar lander in late 2023. The lunar lander will be transporting NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover as part of Griffin Mission 1 that is set to take off from a launch complex at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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Astrobotic has unveiled a 47K-square-foot headquarters in Pittsburgh that will serve as a hub for development and operation of the company's robotic platforms designed to support lunar missions.

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United Launch Alliance is close to completing the construction of its new heavy-lift rocket and the Boeing–Lockheed Martin joint venture expects to transport the vehicle from its factory in Decatur, Alabama, factory to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in November. Vulcan Centaur is on track for its inaugural launch in the first […] More

NASA has awarded nearly $27 million in Phase II Sequential funding to six companies under the Small Business Innovation Research program to continue to develop technology platforms for lunar science and exploration and for unmanned aerial vehicles that could help address wildfires. The six small business awardees were selected for the Sequential awards after maturing […] More

Pennsylvania-based Advanced Cooling Technologies has secured $5 million in NASA funding to further develop a set of thermal control tools under the space agency’s Small Business Innovation Research program, Space News reported Friday. ACT will use the SBIR phase two funds to work on radiators, heat transport and other thermal control technologies designed for use […] More

NASA will invest $5.5 million in nine projects that will test space technologies with suborbital rocket-powered systems, high-altitude balloons and parabolic aircraft. The space agency said Friday its 2021 TechFlights solicitation will fund technology demonstrations in space-like scenarios without having to launch them into orbit. NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate selected the technologies through the […] More

Nineteen out of 24 small business participants during the Space Force Pitch Day will each receive a $1.7 million contract to further develop their existing projects for the U.S. Space Force, SpaceNews reported Friday. The selected companies will move their projects to the second phase of development under the Space Force’s Small Business Innovation Research […] More

Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance and a previous Wash100 awardee, said ULA's Vulcan Centaur rocket will be on the launch pad for its maiden flight by the end of 2021, SpaceNews reported Thursday.

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Frontier Aerospace has concluded design tests of attitude control thrusters under a NASA effort that seeks booster systems for deep space use, Space News reported Tuesday. The company has designed and trialed propulsion technologies that would use mixed nitrogen oxide fuels to propel the Peregrine lunar lander, under the space agency's Thruster for the Advancement of Low-temperature Operation in Space or TALOS effort.

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Leidos' Dynetics subsidiary has started developing a spacecraft called Autonomous Logistics Platform for All-Moon Cargo Access under a potential $253M contract with NASA to develop human landing systems for the agency's lunar mission by 2024, CNBC reported Wednesday.

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United Launch Alliance has started updating manufacturing tools and robotic assembly lines at its factory in Decatur, Ala., as it prepares to transition to Vulcan Centaur rocket production, SpaceNews reported Monday.

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