ESA’s Hera asteroid mission has completed acoustic testing, confirming the spacecraft can withstand the sound of its own lift-off into orbit. Testing took place within the Agency’s Large European Acoustic Facility at the ESTEC Test Centre in the Netherlands. This is Europe’s largest and most powerful sound system, fitted with a quartet of noise horns that can generate more than 154 decibels of extreme noise.

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 10, 2023
Terran Orbital (NYSE: LLAP), a trailblazer in satellite technology, has expanded its innovative product line with the introduction of two new configurations of the Enterprise-class bus, supplementing its standard product offerings initially launched last September. This latest announcement from Terran Orbital introduces configurations that promise to redefine the benchmarks for satellite technol

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 10, 2023
SES Space and Defense, a subsidiary of the global satellite operator SES, recently secured a substantial contract with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), valued just shy of $270 million over a five-year span. This single award Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) underscores a pivotal shift toward integrating commercial satellite capabilities into the fabric of military communications, a move tha

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 10, 2023
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has successfully completed a series of pivotal Thermal Vacuum tests on the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM), paving the way for enhanced broadband communications in the strategically significant Northern polar region. This two-satellite constellation is an integral component of a collaborative effort involving the U.S. Space Force and Space Norwa

San Jose CA (SPX) Nov 10, 2023
Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTS), a pioneer in the space transport sector, has announced a significant partnership with the Paris-based New Space company, RIDE! Space, aiming to streamline satellite launch services. This collaboration is set to include the deployment of Gaindesat and Djibouti payloads scheduled for a joint mission in 2024. Since its inception in 2020, RIDE! Space has committed

McLean VA (SPX) Nov 10, 2023
In a strategic shift that underscores the evolving landscape of global satellite communications, Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM), has announced an update to its partnership with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of QUALCOMM Incorporated. The announcement comes in the wake of a previous agreement wherein Iridium and Qualcomm aimed to integrate satellite messaging and emer

Paris (ESA) Nov 10, 2023
In a significant step toward ensuring Europe's continued presence in low Earth orbit, the European Space Agency (ESA), in partnership with aerospace titan Airbus and space infrastructure pioneer Voyager Space, has penned a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the development of the Starlab space station. This collaboration was spotlighted during ESA's Space Summit in Seville, Spain, marking a p

Space Coast FL (SPX) Nov 09, 2023
For the first time in three years, SpaceX returned the Falcon 9 booster supporting a Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission back onto Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The boosters for nineteen out of twenty-nine CRS launches landed on a drone ship offshore, which brought the rocket back to Florida for refurbishment and reuse. This mission marks the tenth C

When future astronauts explore Mars’s polar regions, they will see a green glow lighting up the night sky. For the first time, a visible nightglow has been detected in the martian atmosphere by ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mission.