Company to Design and Build Innovative Satellite Platform Capable of Hosting Multiple Payloads for Low- and Geosynchronous-Orbit Missions

Dulles, VA, October 24, 2012 (Orbital PR) — Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today announced that the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Space Vehicles Directorate has awarded the company a $32 million contract to develop an experimental maneuverable spacecraft platform that will be capable of hosting multiple payloads and operating in low- and geosynchronous orbit. The five-year contract began in the third quarter of 2012.

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Phoenix satellite concept. (Credit: DARPA)

Richmond, BC (MDA PR) – MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., a provider of essential information solutions, announced today that it has been selected as a key participant to support the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Phoenix Program.

MDA will provide a variety of servicing technologies and capabilities to the program, under multiple contracts to DARPA and the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). These contracts will build on MDA’s world leading capabilities from its operations in both Canada and the U.S.

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The interior of the Stratolaunch production facility in Mojave. (Credit: Stratolaunch)

MOJAVE, CALIF. (Stratolaunch PR) — The Stratolaunch Systems Corporation, a Paul G. Allen project, announced the opening of their production facility at the Mojave Air and Space Port.

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International Space Station

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL. (October 22, 2012) – Space Florida, the State’s spaceport authority and aerospace development organization, and NanoRacks, LLC, partnered to present the Space Florida International Space Station (ISS) Research Competition, announced on September 5, 2012. Completed (Final) Competition Proposals/Papers are due by 5:00 p.m. (EDT) on October 31, 2012 via [email protected].

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REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Oct. 22, 2012 (Northrop Grumman PR) — Doug Shane, president of Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Scaled Composites business, was presented the prestigious 2012 James H. Doolittle Award by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) on Sept. 29 in recognition of his outstanding accomplishments and engineering achievements in aerospace technology.

“Doug has been a force of innovation and leadership in aerospace design and test for over 30 years,” said Paul Meyer, vice president and general manager of advanced programs and technology for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. “His ability to think outside the box and pull forward revolutionary ideas through test and operation has directly influenced the current and future state of the aerospace industry. We are fortunate to have Doug’s leadership on our team.”

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ATK Selected to Develop MegaFlex™ Solar Array Structure
System Would Provide 10 Times More Power than the Largest Current Satellite Array Technology
Builds on Spaceflight-proven UltraFlex™ Solar Array Family

Arlington, Va., October 15, 2012 (ATK PR) – ATK’s MegaFlex™ solar array was recently selected by NASA’s Space Technology Program under a Game Changing Technology competition for development of the promising lightweight and compact solar array structure. ATK received a $6.4 million contract for the MegaFlex™ development.

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A full-scale Lynx mockup. (Credit: Douglas Messier)

Boulder, Colo., Oct. 22, 2012 (SWRI PR) — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has received funding from NASA to build a miniature, portable solar observatory for developing and testing innovative instrumentation in suborbital flight.

The SwRI Solar Instrument Pointing Platform (SSIPP) will fly on new, commercial manned suborbital craft, such as XCOR’s Lynx spacecraft, to enable spaceborne science and instrument development at a fraction of the cost of unmanned sounding rockets.

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Blue Origin’s pusher escape system rockets the New Shepard crew capsule away from the launch pad. (Credit: Blue Origin)

KENT, Wash. (Blue Origin PR) – Blue Origin conducted a successful Pad Escape test last week at its West Texas launch site, firing its pusher escape motor and launching a full-scale suborbital Crew Capsule from a launch vehicle simulator. The Crew Capsule traveled to an altitude of 2,307 feet under active thrust vector control before descending safely by parachute to a soft landing 1,630 feet downrange.

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Trelleborg Sealing Solutions announces its partnership with Earthrise Space, Inc. (ESI) in sponsorship of Omega Envoy, a non-profit space technology developer competing in the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP).  The team will compete by safely landing a robot on the surface of the moon and responding back with images and data.

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This week on The Space Show with David Livingston…. Monday, October 22, 2012, 2-3:30 PM PDT (5-6:30 PM EDT, 4-5:30 PM CDT): We welcome DR. CURT BILBY and DR. ELIZABETH.LEFFEL of Terapio, the honorable mention winner in the NewSpace Business Plan Contest. We will be discussing their innovative product for mitigation exposure to radiation. Tuesday, October 23 , 2012, 7-8:30 PM PDT (10-11:30 PM EDT, 9-10:30 PM CDT): We welcome […]