Space Technology

Aerojet Rocketdyne completes major design milestone for AR1 engine

Thu, 17 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Aerojet Rocketdyne completes major design milestone for AR1 engine

(17 December 2015) Aerojet Rocketdyne has completed a key design milestone for its AR1 rocket engine this week.

Go for the burn: how to melt a satellite

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Go for the burn: how to melt a satellite

(15 December 2015) Imagine being confronted with half a tonne or more of metal and composite structures, electronics boxes and solar panels – an unwanted satellite. And then being handed a blowtorch and told to melt it into vapour.

XCOR engineers announce major breakthrough in engine technology

Mon, 14 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

XCOR engineers announce major breakthrough in engine technology

(14 December 2015) XCOR Director of Engineering and acting CTO Michael Valant announced today that his team has reached an important milestone in the development of the reusable 5K18 Lynx main propulsion rocket engine.

SSL selected for NASA project to develop robotic on-orbit satellite assembly

Thu, 10 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

SSL selected for NASA project to develop robotic on-orbit satellite assembly

(10 December 2015) Space Systems Loral (SSL) has been selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for a multi-million dollar contract to develop on-orbit robotic satellite assembly technology.

ORBITEC awarded NASA research and technologies contract for aerospace propulsion systems

Thu, 10 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

ORBITEC awarded NASA research and technologies contract for aerospace propulsion systems

(10 December 2015) NASA has awarded Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) wholly-owned subsidiary Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) a competitive indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) task order contract to support the development, demonstration and verification of advanced propulsion system technologies under the Research and Technologies for Aerospace Propulsion Systems 2 (RTAPS2) for NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

EDRS-A and its lasers are ready to fly

Wed, 09 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

EDRS-A and its lasers are ready to fly

(9 December 2015) After a year-long wait in storage for a Proton rocket to become available, the EDRS-A laser communications payload and its Eutelsat host satellite are finally at the Baikonur cosmodrome and being prepared for launch in late January.

NASA’s Ames Research Center and Hera Systems execute licensing agreement

Wed, 09 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

NASA’s Ames Research Center and Hera Systems execute licensing agreement

(9 December 2015) NASA’s Ames Research Center and Hera Systems have announced that they have executed a licensing agreement on two pending patents for the Cost Optimized Test of Spacecraft Avionics and Technologies (COTSAT) spacecraft.

Robot arm simulates close approach of ESA's asteroid mission

Tue, 08 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Robot arm simulates close approach of ESA's asteroid mission

(8 December 2015) The final approach to an asteroid has been practised for ESA’s proposed Asteroid Impact Mission using a real spacecraft camera mounted on a robot arm.

NASA small satellites to demonstrate swarm communications and autonomy

Mon, 07 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

NASA small satellites to demonstrate swarm communications and autonomy

(7 December 2015) NASA’s two Nodes small satellites hitched a ride to the International Space Station on the fourth Orbital ATK cargo mission, which launched on Dec. 6.

JPL CubeSat clean room: a factory for small spacecraft

Thu, 03 Dec 2015 00:00:00 +0000

JPL CubeSat clean room: a factory for small spacecraft

(3 December 2015) There was a time when you could find spacecraft clean rooms in two sizes - big and bigger.