Space Force shifts GPS III launch from ULA to SpaceX
The shift follows Vulcan's February grounding under the National Security Space Launch program to resolve persistent problems with its solid rocket boosters.
The shift follows Vulcan's February grounding under the National Security Space Launch program to resolve persistent problems with its solid rocket boosters.
While Space Systems Command hasn't publicly expressed concerns, outside observers point out that there is a real possibility that only Elon Musk's SpaceX will be able to undertake National Security Space Launches in the next few years.
Government can’t stop to update systems, so modernization has to happen without interruptions.
Spy satellites, classified payloads among the newly scheduled launches.
The 10 satellites, which will be lofted on a reusable SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg SFB to low Earth orbit (LEO), are the first batch of the Tranche 0 constellation, building blocks of America's resilient space strategy.
A DARPA official couldn't confirm an exact launch date for the two Telesat birds, but explained in an email today that the agency is awaiting on a launch slot as well as the availability of an integration facility.
While the company currently is using already available data from satellites like NASA's Landsat and ESA's Sentinel-2, Hydrosat also intends to launch its own constellation of 16 microsats to low Earth orbit (LEO).
Each of the new satellites can support up to 5,000 digitally formed beams, according to SES officials, using open architectures that allow governments to tailor the network to their own security standards and maintain national custody of the data links.
Ahead of the Wednesday launch, mystery surrounds what the mission of NROL-87 is. NRO never talks about the purpose of specific satellites, period, but the payload will be launched to an orbit consistent with that of an imaging satellite.
Two of the experiments, each involving two satellites, are focused on laser links: one between satellites themselves; the other from satellites to a MQ-9 Reaper drone on the ground.
SpaceX has launched with a previously used Falcon 9 booster 38 times, says Michael Ellis, director at SpaceX’s National Security Space Launch director.
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The Space Force announced Saturday that it had accepted as operational Lockheed Martin's latest anti-jam upgrade to the software powering its its stop-gap operational control system for GPS III.
CLARIFIED: Adds SMC Comment On Launch Providers WASHINGTON: Last night the Air Force released the final Request For Proposals for five launch contracts for NRO and Air Force Space Command. The most intriguing payload is a code-word program, shared by the NRO and Air Force Space Command, known as SILENTBARKER, which has been described as […]
WASHINGTON: Before we go any further, this story is based on direct observations of what was believed to be the so-called Zuma satellite, as well as a lot of spookily sourced information, most of it from a single source who shall not be identified. First, nobody who doesn’t have extremely high clearance really knows if […]
UPDATED: Adds Insights On Signficance ONRCO Mum So Far ON Switch GEOINT: In news sure to rock the launch industry, the mighty United Launch Alliance today failed to be named as the company launching the X-37B spaceplane. Instead, Elon Musk’s SpaceX will carry it for the first time, marking what is believed to be the […]