Tag: Northrop Grumman
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Video: Atlas 5 rocket blasts off with AEHF 4 satellite
The U.S. Air Force’s fourth Advanced Extremely High Frequency spacecraft launched Wednesday from Cape Canaveral on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, expanding the reach of the military’s most secure, jam-resistant satellite communications network. The 197-foot-tall (60-meter) Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 launch pad at 12:15 a.m.…
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Air Force’s fourth AEHF communications satellite successfully launched from Florida
An Atlas 5 rocket carrying the U.S. Air Force’s fourth AEHF secure communications satellite lifts off at 12:15 a.m. EDT (0415 GMT) Wednesday from Cape Canaveral. Credit: United Launch Alliance A $1.8 billion U.S. Air Force communications satellite rode a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket into orbit Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, joining three similar…
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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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Efforts to develop small-scale rockets are soaring, but only a few get off the ground
News Brief: The latest “State of the Industry” report for small orbital-class launch vehicles tracks 101 reported efforts to create such rockets, compared with a mere 31 in 2015. But many of those efforts are defunct or in limbo, Northrop Grumman’s Carlos Niederstrasser said today at the SmallSat Conference in Logan, Utah. “We’re definitely starting…
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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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Launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe rescheduled for Aug. 6
Parker Solar Probe sits inside a clean room at the Astrotech spacecraft processing facility in Titusville, Florida. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Ed Whitman The launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, on the verge of kicking off a seven-year mission culminating in passages through the sun’s atmosphere, has been delayed to Aug. 6 to resolve a technical…
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U.S. cargo craft tests reboost capability at International Space Station
The Russian Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, left, and Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo craft, right, are seen attached to the International Space Station in June. Credit: NASA A commercial Northrop Grumman Cygnus supply ship berthed at the International Space Station fired its main engine for 50 seconds Tuesday in a test of the spacecraft’s ability to reboost,…
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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…