Tag: Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems
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SpaceX begins 2019 with eighth and final launch for upgraded Iridium network
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 7:31 a.m. PST (10:31 a.m. EST; 1531 GMT) Friday with 10 more Iridium communications satellites. Credit: SpaceX Ten Iridium communications satellites rode a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit Friday from California in the eighth and final launch for Iridium’s upgraded network…
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Iridium eager to complete upgraded network with Falcon 9 launch Friday
Artist’s concept of Iridium Next satellites providing aircraft tracking coverage. Credit: Aireon The launch of 10 more upgraded spacecraft aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Friday will complete the build-out of Iridium’s modernized $3 billion global communications network, setting up for the debut of new broadband and aircraft tracking services in the coming months. With…
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No new date set for Pegasus launch with NASA’s ICON satellite
The Pegasus XL rocket, slung underneath an L-1011 carrier jet, before departure from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Wednesday morning for a launch attempt that was later aborted. Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux NASA and Northrop Grumman officials have not set a new target date for the launch of the ICON ionospheric research satellite aboard an…
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NASA managers clear Pegasus rocket for launch with ICON satellite
Northrop Grumman’s L-1011 carrier jet, named Stargazer, arrived at Cape Canaveral’s Skid Strip on Oct. 19. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett NASA and Northrop Grumman managers at the Kennedy Space Center decided Tuesday to press ahead with final preparations to launch a NASA scientific research satellite early Wednesday aboard an air-launched Pegasus XL rocket off Florida’s east…
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Pegasus launch set for no earlier than Wednesday, but data review continues
Technicians work on the Pegasus XL rocket last month at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, before its ferry flight to Florida. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Tony Vaulcin The launch of a NASA research satellite built to probe conditions along the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space has been tentatively rescheduled for no earlier than Wednesday…
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ULA, Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman share Air Force rocket funding
Artist’s concept of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. Credit: Blue Origin The U.S. Air Force has committed $327 million in funding to advance development of new rockets designed by United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman, leaving out SpaceX in a government investment round that will lead to the military’s selection of two long-term…
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TESS’s planet hunt begins
Artist’s concept of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Credit: NASA NASA’s newest observatory in space has started its search for planets around other stars, officials said Friday, as astronomers zero in on worlds that are ripe for research by follow-up missions like the James Webb Space Telescope. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite officially began a…
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Scientists thrilled with closer views of Ceres’ famous salty crater
This mosaic of a prominent mound located on the western side of Cerealia Facula was obtained by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on June 22, 2018, from an altitude of about 21 miles (34 kilometers). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA Fresh pictures from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft have provided the sharpest glimpse yet of the bright salt deposits discovered inside a…
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Carrier jet with Pegasus rocket returning to California, postponing NASA satellite launch
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT). The L-1011 carrier aircraft with Northrop Grumman’s air-dropped Pegasus launcher departed Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on Wednesday on a planned two-day ferry flight to Kwajalein Atoll. The aircraft and Pegasus rocket will return to Vandenberg after teams encountered a technical concern en route to Kwajalein.…
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Northrop Grumman completes Orbital ATK acquisition
File photo of an Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus spacecraft, developed by Orbital ATK to haul cargo to the International Space Station. Photo credit: Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman concluded its purchase of Orbital ATK on Wednesday, with the absorption of launch vehicle developer, satellite manufacturer, and munitions supplier as a new business unit named Northrop…