SAN FRANCISCO – Iceye, the Finnish radar satellite operator, opened a U.S. office in the San Francisco Bay Area led by Mark Matossian, who managed a series of aerospace programs at Google including the Earth-imaging venture Terra Bella. “The U.S. is a very big market and a top priority for Iceye,” Rafal Modrzewski, Iceye CEO
Sigmatech will provide “architecture and integration support for Air Force space systems and programs.” WASHINGTON — Sigmatech, a professional services firm headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, has won a five-year $74 million contract to provide expert support staff to the office of the assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration, the company
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – One of the largest turtles that ever lived prowled the lakes and rivers of northern South America from about 13 million years ago to 7 million years ago – and this car-sized freshwater beast was built for battle. The huge extinct freshwater turtle Stupendemys geographicus, that lived in lakes and rivers in
WASHINGTON — Spaceflight Industries announced Feb. 11 it will sell its smallsat rideshare launch business to a pair of Japanese companies, allowing it to focus on its BlackSky geospatial business. Spaceflight Industries said that Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Yamasa Co., Ltd. will acquire its rideshare business, known as Spaceflight, Inc., for an undisclosed sum.
SAN FRANCISCO –Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) announced plans Feb. 12 to supply its X-SAT small satellite for Made In Space’s Archinaut One on-orbit manufacturing demonstration mission. “The implications of our ability to conduct 3D printing in space are endless and we’re proud to partner with Made In Space to make this mission a reality,” George
WASHINGTON — Bill Gerstenmaier, the longtime head of NASA’s human spaceflight program who was reassigned last year and later retired, is now working as a consultant for SpaceX as the company prepares to begin commercial crew flights. A company source, speaking on background, said Feb. 11 that Gerstenmaier is working as a consultant to the
WASHINGTON — The head of Israel Aerospace Industries’ space division says he is confident the Israeli government will order more communications satellites beyond Dror-1, a national satellite it ordered last month to keep Israel’s primary spacecraft factory from going dormant. “I am sure there will be follow-on orders,” Boaz Levy, executive vice president and general
PARIS (Reuters) – Franco-British biotech company Novacyt (ALNOV.PA) says it can offer a coronavirus test that is faster than rival methods by focusing on a narrow sequence of DNA coding, as it fights stiff competition to turn the outbreak into a business opportunity. Police in protective gear wait to evacuate residents from a public housing
A space industry flush with startups and easy money struggles to tamp down all the B.S. At a meteorology conference, a space industry consultant asked if I’d heard the news. He claimed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration canceled plans to buy commercial weather satellite data. Since I hadn’t heard, I checked with NOAA officials
U.S. President Donald Trump makes remarks during the White House Business Session with the nation’s governors in the State Dining Room of the White House, Washington, DC, U.S., February 10, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Theiler WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Monday asked Congress for $25.2 billion for NASA in 2021, the agency’s biggest budget in
Gen. John Raymond said recent orbital maneuvers by a Russian “inspector” satellite are concerning and threaten stability in space. WASHINGTON — The commander of U.S. Space Command and chief of the U.S. Space Force Gen. John Raymond said recent orbital maneuvers by a Russian “inspector” satellite are unacceptable and appeared to be threatening a U.S.
WASHINGTON — Only one of the four regional satellite operators authorized to provide C-band services in the United States, Embratel Star One of Brazil, will be eligible to receive payments as part of a spectrum clearing plan by the Federal Communications Commission. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Feb. 6 the commission would allow up to
Updated 8:35 p.m. Eastern with new launch date. WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. — A technical issue scrubbed a scheduled Feb. 9 launch a Cygnus cargo mission to the International Space Station as NASA is considering changes to the schedule of future cargo missions and science activities on the station given uncertainties about the size of the
WASHINGTON — An Atlas 5 successfully launched a European-led solar science mission Feb. 9, the latest effort in what scientists are calling a “golden age” for studying the sun. A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 411 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:03 p.m. Eastern. The Solar Orbiter spacecraft
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Small launch vehicle developer Rocket Lab plans to focus on its satellite program in 2020, offering a high-performance spacecraft bus that complements its existing rocket. While Rocket Lab is best known for its Electron small launch vehicle, the company announced last year it was developing a satellite bus called Photon based
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – The current and former directors of the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency (SDA) have differing views of congressional direction to move SDA under the U.S. Space Force. “Eventually, the Space Development Agency will report to the U.S. Space Force,” SDA Director Derek Tournear said Feb. 6 at the SmallSat Symposium. “That’s the
The RAND Corp. will identify commercial technologies that the Space Force could put into use as well as the potential risks. WASHINGTON — The two-star general in charge of strategic requirements for the U.S. Space Force is overseeing a study that will examine the capabilities of the commercial space industry. The study was commissioned in
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fireflies are under threat globally, with familiar hazards such as habitat loss and pesticides compounded by another peril: humankind’s ubiquitous nighttime artificial light that plays havoc with their balletic nocturnal courtship, scientists said. FILE PHOTO: Fireflies seeking mates light up in synchronized bursts inside a forest at Santa Clara sanctuary near the
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — A small launch vehicle company emerged from stealth mode this week, but is still keeping many details about its plans and capabilities behind closed doors. Astra, a company based in Alameda, California, formally announced its plans Feb. 3, an unveiling timed to the publication of a profile of the company in
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The world’s last woolly mammoths, sequestered on an Arctic Ocean island outpost, suffered from serious genetic defects caused by generations of inbreeding that may have hampered traits such as sense of smell and male fertility in the doomed population. FILE PHOTO: A visitor looks at a complete mammoth skeleton that is displayed