WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force is on track to launch at least two weather monitoring satellites next year while determining a long-term replacement for its aging fleet that currently supplies essential yet insufficient environmental monitoring. In the coming years, some capacity will come from U.S. military-owned satellites but DoD […]
satellites
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SpaceX plans to launch 22 more of its Starlink internet satellites from California early on Sunday morning (Nov. 19). A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base Sunday during a four-hour window that opens at 1:55 a.m. EDT (0655 GMT; 10:55 p.m. on […]
SpaceX launched the SES O3b mPOWER mission on Sunday (Nov. 12), a flight that placed two communication satellites into medium Earth orbit (MEO). The Falcon 9 rocket ferrying these satellites lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 4:08 p.m. EST (2108 GMT). Related: SpaceX launches its […]
TAMPA, Fla. — SpaceX launched a third pair of O3b mPower satellites Nov. 12, enough for SES to start services next year from a constellation grappling with electrical issues that have reduced initial capacity. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Luxembourg-based operator’s satellites lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force […]
WASHINGTON — Ball Aerospace, Parsons, General Dynamics, and Omni Federal each won $9.7 million contracts from the U.S. Space Force to develop competing designs of next-generation ground systems. The contracts, announced Nov. 9, are for a project known as FORGE C2, short for Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution Command and […]
TAMPA, Fla. — Semiconductor giant Qualcomm is scrapping plans to provide the technology Android smartphones would need to directly connect to Iridium’s satellites when they can’t reach a cell tower. Despite successfully developing and demonstrating a chip enabling everyday phones to connect with satellites for SOS, texts, and other low-bandwidth […]
WASHINGTON — Tesat-Spacecom’s laser communications terminals passed key ground tests required to be deployed on Space Development Agency satellites, the company announced Oct. 26. Tesat’s SCOTT80 optical terminal was selected by Lockheed Martin, one of several manufacturers under contract to produce satellites for the Space Development Agency. SDA, an agency […]
Scientists analyzing declassified images taken by Cold War-era spy satellites have revealed the locations of a whopping 396 previously undiscovered Roman forts in Iraq and Syria. Thought to have been built during the second and third century AD, these installations stood at what was then the eastern frontier of the […]