Tag: Military
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Blue Origin, ULA and Northrop Grumman weigh in on multibillion-dollar SpaceX rocket lawsuit
Blue Origin’s BE-4 rocket engine, shown here during a test firing in Texas, is being developed for use on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket as well as United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket. (Blue Origin Photo) Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture and subsidiaries of United Launch Alliance and Northrop Grumman are intervening in…
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Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket launches 3 U.S. military satellites from New Zealand
Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle lifts off from its New Zealand pad. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab sent a trio of research satellites for the U.S. military into orbit tonight from a launch pad that’s thousands of miles from America’s shores, in New Zealand. The Los Angeles-based company’s low-cost Electron rocket lifted off from…
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The three finalists in the DARPA Launch Challenge include a mystery competitor
An artist’s conception shows multiple rockets lifting off from an oceanside launch complex. (DARPA Illustration) Three teams have qualified to go into the rocket-launching phase of the DARPA Launch Challenge: Vector Launch, Virgin Orbit’s VOX Space subsidiary … and a team to be named later. In making today’s announcement, DARPA said the third team asked to…
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President Trump signs directive to create new Space Force under the Air Force’s wing
Vice President Mike Pence makes comments at an Oval Office signing ceremony for Space Policy Directive 4, alongside President Donald Trump and officials including Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan, Air Force Gen. Paul Selva and Susan Gordon, principal deputy director of national intelligence. (White House Photo) WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald…
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After four delays, SpaceX launches Air Force’s first next-gen GPS III satellite
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (SpaceX via YouTube) SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket sent a next-generation GPS satellite into orbit today for the U.S. Air Force, marking a couple of firsts — as well as a “last.” It’s the first GPS III spacecraft to reach space, marking the…
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SpaceX wins $28.7M contract from Air Force for data connectivity research
SpaceX’s plan for global broadband satellite coverage calls for using sets of satellites orbiting at different altitudes. (PatentYogi via YouTube) SpaceX has won a $28.7 million fixed-price contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory for experiments in data connectivity involving ground sites, aircraft and space assets — a project that could give a boost to the…
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Trump authorizes revival of U.S. Space Command, with Space Force on agenda
Vice President Mike Pence delivers remarks at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. (White House via YouTube) President Donald Trump today authorized the Pentagon to set up the U.S. Space Command as its own combatant command, in preparation for creating a Space Force as a separate branch of the military. The authorization for the Space Command came…
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Air Force sets up $100,000 VQ-Prize contest for space awareness visualization
The VQ-Prize aims to boost the development of new visualization tools for space situational awareness. (Air Force Space Command via YouTube) The U.S. Air Force is looking for a few good apps to visualize satellites and other objects in Earth orbit — and it’s willing to pay $100,000 in prizes for them. That’s the bottom line…
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Space Force plan moves forward amid heightened talk about final-frontier fights
Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao flank Vice President Mike Pence during a meeting of the National Space Council at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. (C-SPAN Video) The National Space Council today pushed forward recommendations to raise the profile of military space activities, at first through a combined U.S.…
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Jeff Bezos sells the Air Force on Blue Origin rockets and Amazon Web Services
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, chats with retired Air Force Gen. Larry Spencer at the Air Force Association’s annual conference at National Harbor, Md. Billionaire Jeff Bezos made a subtle sales pitch for Amazon Web Services as well as the New Glenn rockets being built by his Blue Origin space…