Lockheed Martin and NASA have confirmed that the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft has entered Mars’ orbit as they prepare for MAVEN’s primary mission to collect data on gases in the planet’s upper atmosphere. NASA said Sunday that the team used data from Lockheed’s Colorado operations center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s California navigation facility to confirm orbit …

Lockheed Martin flight controllers will oversee the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft’s health and safety functions as the company and NASA prepare for MAVEN to enter Mars’ orbit on Sunday. MAVEN’s orbital insertion concludes its 10-month interplanetary mission and starts its mission to collect data on upper-atmosphere gases on Mars and their interaction with solar winds, NASA said Wednesday. “The …

IBM has won a contract to consolidate traffic data in Sao Paulo using analytics to provide ARTESP, the Brazilian city’s public transportation regulatory agency, with real-time insights on its highways. The project will use IBM Intelligent Transportation software to form an information control center that will gather data from the local highway …

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has awarded Northrop Grumman a $3 million contract to supply the navigational system for NASA’s Solar Probe Plus satellite. Northrop will build the Scalable Space Inertial Reference Unit to help the robotic shuttle stay on its flight path using the company’s hemispherical resonator gyro technology, Northrop said Tuesday. …

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory looks to receive a National Science Foundation grant to continue its observation missions using an Iridium satellite constellation, SpaceNews reported Monday. Dan Leone writes Johns Hopkins APL is eyeing the 66-satellite Next constellation Iridium plans to launch between 2015 and 2017 under the second …

Jessica Nielsen serves as vice president of communications and marketing at Lockheed Martin where she is responsible for all facets of communications at the company’s Information Systems and Global Solutions division. She previously was executive director of global communications at Dell and was chief of staff to the BAE Systems group …

NASA‘s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted gullies on the Red Planet by using a high-resolution imaging science experiment camera that is built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. U.S. scientists examined images captured by the spacecraft’s HiRISE optical system and found that Martian gully formations occurred during seasonal carbon dioxide …

Ball Aerospace and Technologies has received the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System instrument built by Northrop Grumman for integration into the Joint Polar Satellite System beginning later this year. Ball Aerospace said Thursday that CERES will help JPSS-1 support the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership‘s weather and climate measurement missions for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. CERES is designed …

ATK and Northrop Grumman have jointly tested a backplane assembly for NASA‘s James Webb Telescope to determine if the platform could withstand the rigors of space travel and carry heavy payload. The telescope’s primary mirror backplane system is built to hold scientific instruments and beryllium mirror segments and will aim …

Ashish Mahadwar, formerly a Cognizant senior vice president, has joined Computer Sciences Corp. as executive vice president and general manager for that company’s strategic business. Mahadwar will report to CSC President and CEO Mike Lawrie and will be responsible for promoting growth in the company’s line of big data, cloud computing and cybersecurity products and …

The Delta 2 rocket built by United Launch Alliance has carried a NASA carbon-monitoring satellite into space Wednesday, marking the rocket’s 51st launch mission for the space agency. “It is our honor to launch this important mission that will gather the scientific data to better understand planet earth,” Jim Sponnick, …

A spacecraft Orbital Sciences built for NASA is set to blast off Tuesday morning on a two-year mission to measure carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmoshphere. Orbital Sciences will launch the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 satellite aboard a Delta II rocket Tuesday at 2:56 a.m. Pacific Time from Vandenberg Air Force …

Iridium Communications will demonstrate a NAL Research-built tracking device that provides position and location information as part of the U.S. Army‘s Network Integration Evaluation process for commercial communications technology. The company said Monday the Enhanced Mobile Satellite System Beacon is designed to support geo-fencing and integration with the Nett Warrior system to track …

Lockheed Martin is set to begin construction on a robotic probe that NASA plans to send Mars to examine that planet’s interior. NASA plans to launch the Insight lander from a California site in March 2016 and expects the spacecraft to reach its destination six months later, Lockheed said Monday. …

Verizon has completed almost 17,000 miles of fiber optic work in New York City in an effort to meet data and voice communication needs of residential and business customers throughout the city. The company’s goal is to deliver high-speed connectivity by building an all fiber infrastructure  that encompasses the city’s …