Government/Military

SpinLaunch was awarded a responsive launch prototype contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), facilitated by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). SpinLaunch is developing a kinetic energy-based launch system that aims to provide the low-cost orbital launch services for the rapidly growing small satellite industry. In 2018, the company received $40 million in a Series A...

The governments of South Korea and Japan are each in the midst of building up their respective position, navigation and timing (PNT) satellite constellations to provide more accurate service to their militaries and civilian users, officials said June 11. Many countries – to include the United States, Russia and others – have built up their...

Newtec is working with QinetiQ on two key projects as it enters the Belgian space market. QinetiQ is a science and engineering company operating primarily in the defense, security, space and air markets, and chose Newtec’s Manufacturing Competence Center (MCC), in Erpe-Mere, Belgium, to provide the soldering of on-board electronics for two projects. The work will...

Thales Alenia Space signed a letter of intent with the Ministry of the Economy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg regarding the creation of a Digital Center of Excellence in Luxembourg. This new center, Thales Alenia Space in Luxembourg, will focus on the development of innovative digital solutions for space telecommunications and observation products. The Digital...

The U.S. Army is working to update its standards for developing new Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) capabilities that will incorporate more science-and-technology efforts and help the service weed out implausible technologies before they make it to a program status. The service’s acquisition executive recently signed the first reference architecture that would require service capability...

LinQuest Corporation received a $562 million award from the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) to provide architecting and full life-cycle systems engineering, integration, and solutions support to the military satellite communications enterprise. The portfolio of SMC programs supported by MSEIT includes all satellites, terminals, and networks for worldwide tactical, strategic, and wideband...

Kleos Space, a space-powered Radio Frequency (RF) Reconnaissance data provider, revealed that the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) has approved an additional $1.1 million ($1 million euros), non-equity, support for data product development. Luxembourg is home to approximately 50 space companies and research labs. According to the release, the space sector’s contribution to the nation’s GDP is...

When the future U.S. Space Command is stood up, the Air Force Space Command’s Joint Forces Space Component Command (JFSCC) two main mission areas will be reborn under the new combatant command to help facilitate cooperation with both commercial and multi-national partners in space, a senior Air Force official said June 11. Cooperation with commercial...

Globalstar and Echo Ridge developed and are prepared to support a live field demonstration of a stand-alone Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) capability to backup and/or complement GPS in case of GPS unavailability or unreliability. The companies have informed the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The companies responded on June 3 to a DOT announcement and request for...

The U.S. Marine Corps recently began fielding a next-generation narrowband satellite communication system that assists warfighters in connecting to networks on the battlefield. Fielded in the first quarter of 2019, the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) provides satellite communication capabilities to mobile or stationary Marines. The system enables the warfighter to leverage cellular technology to...