Government/Military

[Via Satellite 07-01-2015] NASA and the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) have signed agreements to further research into heliophysics and space weather, and to enhance global climate study and educational opportunities. The new partnerships build on a framework agreement between the U.S. government and the Brazilian government on cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space....

[Via Satellite 06-29-2015] SpaceX is spearheading the investigation of a launch anomaly after the June 28 Commercial Resupply Services 7 (CRS-7) mission failed 139 seconds into flight. The Falcon 9 rocket used for the NASA cargo mission was to deliver more than 4,000-lbs of supplies including food, water, research equipment, scientific experiments and small satellites...

[Via Satellite 06-23-2015] Airbus Defence and Space has introduced a portfolio of scalable welfare satcom services for U.K. military personnel. The new mobile connectivity suite is part of the Welfare Communications Everywhere (Welcome) services provided to the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MOD). The Wel2Go portfolio features three core services for various levels of deployments. The...

[Via Satellite 06-22-2015] While recycling and sustainability efforts have taken hold on the earth’s surface, few of us stop to think about the pollution taking place outside of our atmosphere. With nearly 60 years of satellite launches behind us, left over debris is piling up in orbit faster than we would like to think and...

[Via Satellite 06-22-2015] The European Space Agency (ESA) reported that the agency and industry partner Airbus Defence and Space have completed a series of hot firings of a 3-D printed platinum combustion chamber and nozzle. The firings consisted of 618 ignitions, including a single burn of 32 minutes that reached a maximum throat temperature of...

[Via Satellite 06-19-2015] The Senate of the German aerospace center, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), has unanimously decided to appoint Pascale Ehrenfreund, research professor of space policy and international affairs at the Space Policy Institute in Washington D.C., as the new chair of its executive board. Ehrenfreund will succeed Johann-Dietrich Wörner, who has...

[Via Satellite 06-18-2015] The European Space Agency (ESA) and partner Airbus Defence and Space are aiming to build out the European Data Relay System (EDRS) into a global laser communications network by 2020 and hope that the system will become an international standard. ESA and Airbus completed a major test of the EDRS system in...

[Via Satellite 06-18-2015] The Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas (SAC)-D satellite observatory, a collaborative project between NASA and Argentina’s space agency, Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE), with participation from Brazil, Canada, France and Italy, ended June 8 when an essential part of the power and attitude control system ceased operating. According to NASA, preliminary indications...

[Via Satellite 06-17-2015] Space agencies and technology centers from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom have all signed a Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) consortium agreement to provide a European Union (EU)-wide SST framework. The consortium will exploit existing national infrastructures and sensors to provide a service to monitor and track space objects...

[Via Satellite 06-15-2015] NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for its recently created commercial Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) for small satellites and experiments. The agency plans to award one or more firm fixed-price VCLS contracts to accommodate 132 pounds of CubeSats in a single launch or two launches...