Tag: Air Force
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Overview Energy Secures Air Force SBSP Contract for Remote Bases
Can Space-Based Solar Power Eliminate Military Base Fuel Vulnerabilities? Overview Energy has secured an Air Force contract to develop space-based solar power (SBSP) systems that could eliminate fuel supply vulnerabilities at remote military installations. The award positions the company to demonstrate continuous power delivery from orbital solar arrays, addressing critical logistics challenges where fuel convoys…
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PlanetiQ lands $15M Air Force STRATFI for weather satellites
How will PlanetiQ’s $15M Air Force contract reshape weather forecasting from space? PlanetiQ has secured a $15 million Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) contract from the U.S. Air Force to develop and launch next-generation weather satellites equipped with advanced terrestrial and space weather monitoring instruments. The Boulder-based commercial satellite operator will use the funding to accelerate…
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Prepping for Starship, SpaceX is about to demolish one of ULA’s launch pads
The US Air Force is moving closer to authorizing SpaceX to move into one of the largest launch pads at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, with plans to use the facility for up to 76 launches of the company’s Starship rocket each year. A draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) released this week by…
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The Pentagon seems to be fed up with ULA’s rocket delays
In recent written testimony to a US House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees the military, the senior official responsible for purchasing launches for national security missions blistered one of the country’s two primary rocket providers. The remarks from Major General Stephen G. Purdy, acting assistant secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration,…
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Boeing-built X-37B space plane lands after completing record 908-day orbital mission
The X-37B space plane lands at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Boeing / U.S. Space Force Photo) The U.S. Space Force’s Boeing-built X-37B space plane today completed yet another record-setting mission, landing like an airplane at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida 908 days after it was launched. This was the sixth mission in…
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ULA and SpaceX win shares of future national security launches; Blue Origin loses out
The U.S. Space Force has given its stamp of approval to United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket, shown in the artist’s conception at left; and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, shown at right. (ULA Illustration for Vulcan / GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota for Falcon Heavy) The U.S. Space Force designated United Launch Alliance and SpaceX as…
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Air Force goes with BlackSky’s Spectra AI platform to track impact of COVID-19
A satellite image of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport reveals an unusually high number of parked airplanes (identified in yellow boxes) and an unusually low number of parked cars. That’s consistent with what would be expected during the COVID-19 pandemic. (BlackSky Photo) BlackSky, a satellite data venture with offices in Seattle, says it’s won a U.S.…
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Space Force will test solar power transmission during X-37B space plane’s next mystery flight
The Pentagon’s X-37B space plane is encapsulated within the payload fairing of its Atlas 5 launch vehicle. (Boeing Photo) When a Boeing-built X-37B space plane is sent into orbit this month for the test program’s sixth flight, it will try out a technology that’s been more than a decade in the making: space-based solar power.…
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Xplore wins award from Air Force to study navigational tools for moon missions
An artisti’s conception shows Xplore’s Xcraft with the moon in the background. (Xplore Illustration) Seattle-based Xplore has won a $50,000 award from the Air Force to develop an architecture for keeping track of missions between Earth and the moon. The three-month study is being funded through the Air Force’s AFWERX technology innovation program, a partnership…
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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk touts Starlink satellites and robotic fighter jets at Air Warfare Symposium
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium. (USAF via DVIDS) SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took a rare deep dive into the workings of his company’s Starlink broadband satellite operation in Redmond, Wash., today at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium in Florida. He also put in a pitch…