The U.S. Space Force has awarded L3Harris Technologies a contract extension worth of up to $187 million to continue modernizing and maintaining critical space infrastructure. The option year five contract is part of the Maintenance of Space Situational Awareness Integrated Capabilities program, which aims to spot and monitor deep space objects, providing prompt and reliable […]
Bill Nelson, NASA administrator and a past Wash100 awardee, has unveiled plans to accelerate the Mars Sample Return program, inviting innovative designs from the industry to retrieve crucial samples from the red planet, NASA said. The samples, Nelson said, will give insights into solar system formation, support future human exploration and aid in the search […]
NASA has announced that its Dragonfly rotorcraft mission to Saturn’s moon Titan will be launched in July 2028, with President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2025 budget request allocating $3.35 billion for the total lifecycle cost of the project. The agency’s confirmation of the mission launch will enable the completion of the rotorcraft’s final design, which […]
The Department of Defense is partnering with a contractor to improve the production of space-qualified materials for solar cells. On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced that it tapped the expertise of semiconductor manufacturer 5N Plus to produce the solar cell materials under the Defense Production Act investment program. The contractor will produce germanium wafers and semiconductor […]
NASA has promoted three space professionals to its Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ensuring the facility has leaders capable of ensuring its success. JPL Deputy Associate Director Howard Eisen is taking on another role at the facility as its chief engineer, contributing his experience to ensure the success of missions and projects within the laboratory. Eisen has […]
The United States Space Force hosted military space leaders from 17 other countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom, at the fourth annual Space Chiefs Forum in Colorado Springs on Thursday to discuss international collaboration and global space security. Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, a 2024 Wash100 awardee and […]
NASA and Japan have significantly advanced their space partnership through a comprehensive new agreement focused on lunar exploration. The agreement signing, which took place at NASA Headquarters, was attended by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Masahito Moriyama and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency President Hiroshi Yamakawa, NASA said. […]
BAE Systems has announced the launch of the Weather System Follow-on Microwave satellite that its newly acquired company, Ball Aerospace, earlier delivered to the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command. Sent into orbit via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Thursday, the satellite will provide environmental monitoring data […]
The Space Development Agency has welcomed a new partner to fulfill the data recording needs of the Tranche 2 Tracking Layer in support of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. On Wednesday, Mercury Systems received a $31 million contract to supply solid-state data recorders for L3Harris Technologies’ satellites that will form part of the program. L3Harris […]
The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command has awarded True Anomaly a $30 million contract for the Victus Haze Tactically Responsive Space mission. The contract, awarded through the Emergent Need Small Business Innovation Research program and in collaboration with SpaceWERX, aims to develop innovative solutions for future TacRS operations, True Anomaly said. With True Anomaly […]
