Tag: DARPA
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Kreios Space Targets 2028 VLEO Demonstration With NanoAvionics Satellite Bus
Spanish aerospace startup Kreios Space has selected Kongsberg NanoAvionics to provide the satellite platform for its first very low Earth orbit (VLEO) demonstration mission, which is targeted for launch in 2028. The mission will serve as the company’s first in-orbit test of its air-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP) technology, designed to enable satellites to operate for…
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DARPA Backs Seven Teams in Race to Build a Nuclear Battery That Lasts 30 Years
The effort targets what DARPA program manager Tabitha Dodson identifies as the central obstacle to transportable nuclear power: heat and weight. Fission reactors and radioisotope thermal generators contain enormous energy, but they require heavy, non-transportable hardware to manage the heat they produce. That heat management piece, Dodson said, is always what drags down the dreams…
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This is the world’s most advanced robotic servicing satellite—that we know about
A spacecraft fitted with two flexible robotic arms is on the way to geosynchronous orbit after launching earlier this week on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, kicking off a planned decade-long mission to open new frontiers in satellite servicing. The Mission Robotic Vehicle, owned and built by Northrop Grumman, rocketed into orbit from Cape Canaveral…
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Northrop Grumman Launches Robotic Servicing Vehicle Toward Geosynchronous Orbit
The Mission Robotic Vehicle carries the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites payload, a pair of robotic arms with an array of tool attachments developed at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory with financial backing from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Following deployment, the vehicle and its pods will spend a year traveling out to geosynchronous…
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Quantum Space to Go Public in $1.2 Billion SPAC Deal Backed by Former NASA Chief Jim Bridenstine
Quantum Space has agreed to go public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. VI in a transaction valuing the combined company at approximately $1.2 billion. The deal includes a $300 million private investment in public equity (PIPE) led by Inflection Point Asset Management and is expected to close…
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Spaceium Demonstrates High-Precision Robotic Actuator for Future In-Orbit Refueling
U.S. robotics startup Spaceium has demonstrated a high-precision actuator in orbit, a technology it says could enable future robotic refueling and servicing of satellites. The component flew aboard a SpaceX Transporter rideshare mission launched in November and was tested in space rather than in laboratory conditions. According to the company, the device achieved rotational accuracy…
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Redwire Wins $44 Million DARPA Contract to Build VLEO Satellite with Air-Breathing Propulsion
Redwire Corporation has secured a $44 million Phase 2 contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to manufacture and deliver a very-low-Earth-orbit (VLEO) satellite equipped with air-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP) technology, the company said. The award is part of DARPA’s Otter program, which seeks to validate whether satellites can operate for more…
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Some parts of Trump’s proposed budget for NASA are literally draconian
New details of the Trump administration’s plans for NASA, released Friday, revealed the White House’s desire to end the development of an experimental nuclear thermal rocket engine that could have shown a new way of exploring the Solar System. Trump’s NASA budget request is rife with spending cuts. Overall, the White House proposes reducing NASA’s…
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The US government seems serious about developing a lunar economy
For the first time ever, the United States is getting serious about fostering an economy on the Moon. NASA, of course, is in the midst of developing the Artemis program to return humans to the Moon. As part of this initiative, NASA seeks to foster a lunar economy in which the space agency is not…
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PowerLight joins Blue Origin to study power beaming system for the moon
An artist’s conception shows a beamed-power system operating on the moon. (Illustration via PowerLight) Kent, Wash.-based PowerLight Technologies says it’s joined a team headed by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture to design a power beaming system that might someday charge up robots on the moon. The effort is being funded by the Pentagon’s Defense…