Tag: Military
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Despite winning contract, SpaceX sticks with lawsuit against feds and rocket rivals
An automated camera documents the Falcon Heavy rocket’s first ascent from Kennedy Space Center in February 2018 with SpaceX’s hangar in the foreground. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota) Update: A federal district judge in California ruled against SpaceX and ordered its case against the Air Force to be vacated. The order was issued under seal…
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Kymeta goes beyond antennas with acquisition of Lepton satellite service company
A military-style Polaris RZR off-road vehicle plows through desert dunes with a Kymeta satellite antenna installed on top. Kymeta’s acquisition of Lepton Global Systems is aimed at strengthening the company’s offerings for government and military customers. (Kymeta Photo) Kymeta Corp. — the satellite antenna venture that’s based in Redmond, Wash., and backed by Microsoft co-founder…
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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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Boeing-built X-37B space plane goes into orbit for shadowy Space Force test mission
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket launched a Boeing-built X-37B space plane today on a semi-secret orbital mission under the management of the recently created Space Force. Today’s USSF-7 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida came at 9:14 a.m. ET (6:14 a.m. PT), a day after the first attempt was called…
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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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U.S. Navy officially releases UFO videos, years after they were unofficially leaked
The Defense Department has authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos, captured in 2004 and 2015, that purport to show unidentified flying objects — or to use the Pentagon’s preferred term, unidentified aerial phenomena. UFO fans have long known about these videos, known by the filenames FLIR, GOFAST and GIMBAL, thanks in part to…
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ULA’s Atlas 5 rocket launches AEHF-6 satellite on Space Force’s first official orbital mission
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket launches the AEHF-6 military communications satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (ULA via YouTube) The first satellite mission conducted under the name of the U.S. Space Force got underway today with the launch of the AEHF-6 military communications satellite atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5…
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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…
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Systima expands facilities and workforce for hypersonic and weapon systems development
Systima Technologies was a subcontractor on the Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation Program, or HIFiRE, in 2012. (AFRL Photo) Kirkland, Wash.-based Systima Technologies is taking on more employees and real estate to work on Defense Department contracts related to hypersonic and long-range weapon systems. The 18-year-old company specializes in high-performance composite structures, shrouds and payload…