Government/Military

Five industry groups have joined protests against the FCC’s approval of Ligado’s L-band network plan in April. The group, Keep GPS Working Coalition was founded by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA) and the...

Capella Space signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The CRADA gives Capella access to NGA researchers for deeper insight into problems and in return NGA gains access to Capella Space’s Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data and analytics services and signifies NGA’s first research partnership with an...

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory awarded a Small Business Technology Transfer study contract to York Space Systems, in conjunction with Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver). The project will investigate delivering high-performance space capabilities at a low cost and minimal wait time, using leading-edge commercial space technology. The STTR program funds research and...

Virgin Galactic signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA’s Johnson Space Center to encourage commercial participation in orbital human spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) while enabling the development of a robust economy in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). Under the agreement, Virgin Galactic will develop a new private orbital astronaut readiness program. This program will...

Maxar Technologies today announced that it was selected by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop an analytics system for characterizing and tracking the behavior of vehicles in multiple domains at scale and in near-real-time. The contract was awarded and is administered through the U.S. Department of the Interior and is valued at $23...

Plans for the U.S. Space Force to award two launch services contracts for its next batch of national security space missions this summer remain on track, the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) commander said June 17. The Space Force released a request for proposals for Phase 2 of its launch services procurement program in...

The Pentagon released a new Defense Space Strategy June 17, laying out four lines of effort meant to maintain U.S. superiority in the space domain and counteract ever-growing threats by Russia and China. An unclassified summary and fact sheet of the strategy was released Wednesday as the U.S. government continues to increase its emphasis on the...

The U.S. Space Force Commercial Satellite Communications Office (CSCO) awarded Peraton task order CTC0331, a $56 million contract under the Future Commercial Satcom Acquisition (FCSA) program. The newly awarded contract provides commercial satellite communications services for the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). Under the contract, Peraton will provide mission support for mobile platforms, as well as...

The United States and United Kingdom have signed an agreement paving the way for U.S. companies to launch from U.K. spaceports. According to the U.S. Department of State, the agreement establishes technical safeguards for U.S. launches from the U.K., and also sets standards for how sensitive U.S. technology should be used for satellite and rocket...

Senator John Kennedy, R-La., questioned the validity of the FCC’s accelerated relocation payments to incentivize satellite operators to clear C-band spectrum as FCC Chairman Ajit Pai testified before a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday.  Sen. Kennedy pushed Pai as to why $9.7 billion in accelerated relocation payments that the FCC has...