Tag: Lockheed-Martin
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Decision on new space station cargo contracts deferred
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft arrives at the International Space Station on April 17 for its sixth operational cargo delivery. Credit: ESA/NASA NASA expects to select commercial contractors to resupply the International Space Station in September, three months later than the agency’s previous timetable under a competition for cargo deliveries beginning in 2018. NASA was scheduled to…
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Lockheed Martin throws its hat into ISS cargo competition
Artist’s concept of Lockheed Martin’s Jupiter spacecraft and Exoliner cargo module grappled by the International Space Station’s robotic arm. Credit: Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin has proposed a semi-reusable resupply platform to send up cargo to the International Space Station beginning in 2018, adding another competitor to a crowded list of companies bidding to win multibillion-dollar…
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Engineers finding lessons in nearly flawless Orion test flight
The Orion spacecraft descends under three main parachutes at the end of its first mission into space Dec. 5. Credit: U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Charles White December’s first orbital test flight of NASA’s Orion crew capsule was almost perfect, but engineers are carefully analyzing 600 gigabytes of data recorded on…
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New Navy satellite spreads wings, unfurls antennas in orbit
CAPE CANAVERAL — The massive U.S. Navy communications satellite launched from Cape Canaveral two weeks ago has completed prescribed maneuvers to reach geosynchronous orbit and successfully unfurled its umbrella-like antenna reflectors. Checkouts of the spacecraft — expected to last several months — are getting underway high above the Pacific Ocean testing location before the bird…
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Bonus fuel could change OSIRIS-REx flight plan
The OSIRIS-REx mission’s main hydrazine tank was integrated with the spacecraft’s structure at Lockheed Martin’s Denver facility in December 2014. Credit: NASA/Lockheed Martin A NASA spacecraft under construction for launch in 2016 to retrieve samples from asteroid Bennu could benefit from an extra load of fuel, allowing an extended stay at the asteroid or a…
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Lockheed Martin begins taking apart first flown Orion capsule
The Orion spacecraft inside the Launch Abort System Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/Cory Huston NASA’s Orion spacecraft achieved all but two of 87 demo objectives on its first orbital flight last month, but details on the capsule’s performance will require dismantling the spaceship’s outer skin in a careful procedure designed to…
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Photos: Navy satellite shrouded for launch
The sophisticated U.S. Navy mobile communications satellite to launch Jan. 20 has been wrapped up in the Atlas 5 rocket’s nose cone for the holidays. Encapsulation within the five-meter-diameter bulbous fairing occurred on Thursday. It is the third in a series of five Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellites built by Lockheed Martin for the…
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Dream Chaser to breathe new life into Michoud
Following this week’s announcement of a deal between Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) and Lockheed Martin, the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) will gain a much-needed boost. The facility, that once built the giant External Tanks (ETs), will soon host composite airframe fabrication for new Dream Chasers. SNC/Lockheed Martin Deal: SNC’s ongoing effort to prove they have…
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Orion removed from NASA control – MOD positioning for commercial role
NASA managers are pushing through the shutdown of the Constellation Program (CxP) at a pace, with a series of memos showing all the Ares test flights have already been cancelled, along Orion ‘defunded’ and returned to the sole control of contractor Lockheed Martin. Meanwhile, MOD director Paul Hill has written to NASA administrator Charlie Bolden,…