Shanahan mentioned space, hypersonic weapons and cyber warfare as three key areas that are getting more attention and resources. WASHINGTON — Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Thursday was grilled by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during a hearing on the Pentagon’s budget request for fiscal year 2020. Alongside Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman
Space
Before its circuits ran cold in the shadow of a Martian dust storm, Opportunity took one long look at its surroundings and saved it for posterity. The image represents a poignant conclusion to the rover’s mission; a detailed panorama combining the most recent tracks of its marathon journey with a glimpse of the sands it
WASHINGTON — Defense contractor Cubic Corporation on March 14 said it is buying space hardware provider Nuvotronics for $64 million in cash. Nuvotronics builds radio frequency systems for satellites and other applications. Credit: Nuvotronics. Durham, North Carolina-based Nuvotronics will enhance Cubic’s protected communications portfolio, which includes GATR inflatable satcom terminals used by the U.S. military
Our Solar System is filled with dust from crumbling asteroids and comets, but only some planets are honoured with a grainy ring to call their own. Both Venus and Earth have this pleasure, escorted around the Sun by a band of cosmic matter. The little planet of Mercury, on the other hand, was once thought
HELSINKI — The Chang’e-4 lander and Yutu-2 have powered down for a third lunar nighttime on the far side of the moon, with the rover reaching its design lifetime. The 140-kilogram Yutu-2 rover entered a sleep state at 12:16 a.m. Eastern Wednesday, according to the China Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP), having reached a total drive distance
Half a century ago, NASA’s Apollo program sent a handful of people to walk around on the Moon, take a few pics, say something witty, play golf, and bring back some souvenirs. Not all of those souvenirs got handed out for analysis, but NASA had good reasons to keep a few on ice. Now nine
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said his committee will draft its own Space Force proposal. WASHINGTON — The Defense Department last month put forth a plan for establishing a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces. Congress in due time will counter with its own Space Force proposal, said
The idea of one day travelling to another star system and seeing what is there has been the fervent dream of people long before the first rockets and astronauts were sent to space. But despite all the progress we have made since the beginning of the Space Age, interstellar travel remains just that – a
This article was first published in the SN Military.Space newsletter. If you would like to get our news and insights for national security space professionals every Tuesday, sign up here for your free subscription. It has been a turbulent few days in the Air Force since Secretary Heather Wilson announced on Friday she will be stepping down to become president
The SDA will be “uniquely positioned and empowered” to unify and integrate space afforts across the Defense Department. WASHINGTON — Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Tuesday officially established the Space Development Agency as a separate organization within the Department of Defense that will be led by Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike
Within the constellation of Hercules, 230 million light years away, a fierce and drawn-out battle is finally coming to an end. A pair of colliding galaxies, pulled together by gravity, are at last laying down their arms and joining forces. A newly released image from the Hubble Space Telescope depicts the two star systems on
WASHINGTON — NASA’s fiscal year 2020 budget request is facing scrutiny from nearly all quarters for its proposals to cut science missions and education programs as well as defer work on an upgraded version of the Space Launch System. The proposal, released March 11, offers $21.02 billion for NASA in 2020, a decrease of about
Scientists just discovered evidence of a massive solar storm that happened some 2,679 years ago. Such blasts of plasma and electromagnetic radiation from the Sun have the potential to seriously impact life on Earth, so it’s important for us to understand them as much as we can. The evidence they dug up is in the
The Air Force is proposing a large funding increase for the missile warning satellites known as the next-generation Overhead Persistent Infrared. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force is requesting $13.8 billion for space programs in its fiscal year 2020 budget. That is $2 billion, or 17 percent, more than the $11.8 billion that Congress enacted
HELSINKI — OneSpace has completed assembly and testing of its OS-M rocket in preparation for a launch at the end of March which, if successful, would make it the first Chinese private rocket firm to reach orbit. Comprehensive tests on the OS-M1 solid propellant rocket began last week in Xi’an, north China, and the team
When it comes to understanding the history of the Solar System, a whole lot of clues to its past lie in the geological records right here on Earth. New research stretches that link back some 200 million years using what scientists are calling a Geological Orrery. You’ve probably seen an orrery before – it’s one
The caucus will seek to promote the economic, national security and infrastructure benefits of GPS technology, and will drive attention to the risks and oversight challenges that face the GPS industry, Sen. Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Sen. Ernst (R-Iowa) said in a joint news release. WASHINGTON — The Global Positioning System constellation will have its own
In budget documents, the White House said the Space Force will “initially realign existing space forces and materiel from the military services and will scale up responsibly and deliberately over the next several years.” WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is proposing a $4.7 trillion federal budget for fiscal year 2020 that includes $750 billion for
WASHINGTON — The maiden flight of Vega C, Europe’s next-generation light-lift vehicle, has slipped to early 2020, a change the manufacturer linked to 2019’s busy launch schedule. Giuseppe Coccon, a spokesperson for Avio, which manufactures the Vega and upcoming Vega C launchers, said the company chose to prioritize its 2019 Vega launch manifest over the
Black holes might easily be the most compelling mysteries in the Universe. Thought to be the collapsed cores of dead stars, these strange objects are well known for one particular property – matter goes in; nothing comes out. As far as we know, black holes are so dense that nothing can escape their event horizon. But