CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. — On Wednesday, March 24 at 4:28 a.m. EDT, SpaceX launched 60 Starlink broadband satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It was SpaceX’s ninth launch and the 25th launch worldwide of 2021. Seven Falcon 9 boosters have launched 420 Starlink satellites into orbit this year. SpaceX has now launched 1,385 Starlink satellites, with 1,321 currently in orbit. […]

Work will significantly increase the scope of the Unified Data Library

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Bluestaq PR) – Bluestaq LLC today announced a two-year, $280M extension to its current Advanced Command and Control Enterprise Systems and Software (ACCESS) contract by the General Services Administration (GSA). This contract modification will allow Bluestaq to continue the development and data integration of the Unified Data Library (UDL) for the US Space Force Space and Missile Systems Center Data Program Management Office.

This award follows Bluestaq’s 2019 $37 million GSA Phase III SBIR contract award to integrate data supporting Space and Air and Multi-domain operations. In support of Space Force operations, Bluestaq will continue to build a secure, modern data management platform from a wide range of sources spanning commercial, Department of Defense (DoD), and the United States Intelligence Community (IC).

LITTLETON, Colo. and TYSONS, Va., March 23, 2021 (Lockheed Martin/Omnispace PR) — Omnispace, LLC and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), have entered into a strategic interest agreement to explore jointly developing 5G capability from space. The proposed global 5G standards-based non-terrestrial network (NTN) would offer commercial, enterprise and government devices ubiquitous communications worldwide. This type of network has the potential to redefine mobile communications, benefiting users requiring true mobility, regardless of environment or location.

Introducing the industry’s first commercially available modular microsat bus

COLUMBIA, Ill., March 23, 2021 (NanoAvionics PR) – Smallsat mission integrator NanoAvionics, which has gained recognition from the industry for its nanosatellite technology in recent years, aims to capture a share of the lucrative microsatellite segment with the first modular microsat bus in the industry, the “MP42”. With 10,000 smallsats scheduled to be launched over the next 10 years, NanoAvionics expects to grow fivefold in size across its entire service portfolio for nano- and microsatellite missions and produce about 120 satellites per year by 2025.

LONDON, March 23, 2021 (OneWeb PR) — OneWeb, the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) global satellite communications company, is preparing for the launch and deployment of 36 satellites at 02:47 GMT by Arianespace for the second time from the Vostochny Cosmodrome.

This will be the second of five launches that will enable OneWeb to deliver connectivity services north of 50 degrees latitude by the end of the 2021. These initial regional services will begin in United Kingdom, Alaska, Northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, the Artic Seas, and Canada with global service becoming available in 2022.

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. (NASA PR) — In 2021, NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, CubeSat will launch to a never-before-used cislunar orbit near the Moon.

BENGALURU, India (ISRO PR) — For the first time in the country, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully demonstrated free-space Quantum Communication over a distance of 300 m.

A number of key technologies were developed indigenously to accomplish this major feat, which included the use of indigenously developed NAVIC receiver for time synchronization between the transmitter and receiver modules, and gimbal mechanism systems instead of bulky large-aperture telescopes for optical alignment.

TOKYO, Japan and BERLIN, Germany, March 23, 2021 (Synspective PR)  — Synspective Inc., a SAR satellite data and analytic solution provider, announced a Launch Agreement with the German launch services provider, Exolaunch, to launch the second demonstration satellite “StriX-β” on a Soyuz-2  launch vehicle from Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia in late 2021.    

StriX-β is the second demonstration satellite following Strix-α. It is aimed to demonstrate “InSAR (Interferometric SAR)” technology in orbit, a special SAR analytics technique to detect millimeter-level displacements on the ground surface.

CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. (SpaceX PR) — SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, March 24 for launch of 60 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The instantaneous window is at 4:28 a.m. EDT, or 8:28 UTC, and a backup opportunity is available on Thursday, March 25 at 4:06 a.m. EDT, or 8:06 UTC. The Falcon 9 first stage rocket booster supporting this […]

By Hillary Smith
NASA Game Changing Development Program

HAMPTON, Va. — NASA is working with commercial companies to mature vertically deployable solar array systems for the lunar surface.

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — NASA is targeting no earlier than April 8 for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to make the first attempt at powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. Before the 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) rotorcraft can attempt its first flight, however, both it and its team must meet a series of daunting milestones.

MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — Dmitry Rogozin, General Director of the State Corporation Roscosmos, on March 22, 2021, held a meeting with Indian cosmonauts candidates who successfully completed general space training in Russia. The meeting was also attended by the Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation, Mr. D.B. Venkatesh Varma, and representatives of subsidiaries of the State Corporation Roscosmos, who took part in the training of Indian candidates for cosmonauts. The Indian […]