Tag Archives: Spacecraft

Orbital ATK has received a contract from the U.S. Air Force to build an evolved expendable launch vehicle designed to transport and field small satellites and other payloads. The contract with the Air Force Space and Missiles Center covers the development of the initial Long Duration Propulsive EELV Secondary Payload Adapter platform and …

Sierra Nevada Corp. has conducted a free flight test of a spacecraft designed to deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract. The Dream Chaser test spacecraft was air-lifted by a Columbia 234-UT Chinook helicopter before the space vehicle performed a pre-planned …

Lockheed Martin has resumed testing and assembly work on a spacecraft at its Denver, Colorado-based facility in preparation for NASA’s upcoming Mars mission that seeks to explore the red planet’s deep interior. The Lockheed-built Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport lander is scheduled to launch on May …

BAE Systems has introduced a single-board computer technology designed to support computing processes on board spacecraft and satellites. The company said Wednesday it developed the RAD5545TM computer to aid space missions such as weather monitoring, planetary exploration, communications, surveillance, tracking and national security. RAD5545TM components are designed to resist potential damage or …

SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft lifted off Monday aboard the Falcon 9 rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as part of the company’s 12th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. The spacecraft took off at 12:31 p.m. Eastern time to deliver at least 6,400 pounds of crew supplies and experiments …

Orbital ATK plans to launch its Cygnus spacecraft aboard its upgraded Antares 230 rocket in September as part of the company’s eighth cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station under NASA‘s Commercial Resupply Services contract, Space News reported Monday. “The launch date on the manifest now is September the 12th,” Frank …

A SpaceX-built spacecraft took off Saturday aboard the company’s Falcon 9 rocket to deliver approximately 6,000 pounds of scientific instruments and crew supplies to the International Space Station, Space.com reported Saturday. The Dragon spacecraft’s launch from NASA‘s Kennedy Space Center in Florida marks the first time that SpaceX used a refurbished second …

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 …

A Northrop Grumman-built navigation platform has worked to provide attitude control capabilities for NASA’s Cassini space vehicle in support of the Saturn exploration mission. The spacecraft with Northrop’s Space Inertial Reference Unit maneuvered through a 1,500-mile gap between the planet and its rings on April 26, the company said Thursday. Northrop’s …

Boeing has introduced a spacesuit to be worn by passengers on spacecraft the company has built to support NASA‘s manned missions to the International Space Station and other low-Earth orbit destinations. The Boeing Blue spacesuit future CST-100 Starliner crew is designed to increase pressurized mobility and weighs nearly 40 percent lighter than previously used spacesuits, …

Lockheed Martin will begin environmental and mechanical tests on a satellite that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will use to support U.S. weather observation operations. Lockheed said Tuesday the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites – S weather satellite is the second of four GOES-R series geostationary weather satellites and will undergo …

The European Space Agency has partnered with Thales Alenia Space to carry out the final stage of activities for the ExoMars 2020 — a joint mission of ESA and its Russian counterpart to explore life on Mars. Thales Alenia Space will design the ExoMars mission and lead a European industrial consortium under a contract with ESA, Thales said …

SpaceX has pushed back from the spring of 2017 to May 2018 the first manned flight of its Dragon spacecraft designed to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Andy Pasztor writes the delay comes as SpaceX works to develop new fueling …

NASA plans to launch an Orbital ATK-built Cygnus spacecraft from Cape Canaveral in Florida aboard a United Launch Alliance-made Atlas V rocket in spring 2017 to perform the next cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station, Daily Press reported Tuesday. Barron “Barry” Beneski, a spokesman for Orbital ATK, said the decision …

Iridium Communications has scheduled the launch of its next-generation global satellite constellation Iridium NEXT for Dec. 16 aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will carry 10 Iridium NEXT satellites to low-Earth orbit to replace an existing commercial satellite network in space, Iridium said Thursday. …