Officials at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., said the range is “fully mission capable” to support launches following a major May 28 mishap involving Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.
Space
The Space Force awarded SpaceX a $4.16 billion contract on May 29 to build a constellation of satellites that can sense and track airborne targets from orbit.
House lawmakers this week included language in their version of the fiscal 2027 defense policy bill that would dissolve two Space Force rapid acquisition organizations, absorbing their programs and potentially replicating their authorities in the service’s new portfolio-based acquisition system.
Space Systems Command has awarded a massive $2.29 billion contract to SpaceX for the “backbone” of its new Space Data Network, a constellation of satellites in low-Earth orbit that will provide connectivity for the entire joint force.
Space Force has awarded a $90 million contract to Rocket Lab for satellites to host payloads that tracks objects in geosynchronous orbit.
As the Space Force makes plans for two on-orbit refueling and maneuver demonstrations in 2027—and closely watches similar government and commercial endeavors—the service official overseeing the effort say he want to take these capabilities from demo to operations in short order.
To counter Chinese ambitions, the U.S. Space Force must start work now to put Guardians in orbit and on the moon in the decades to come, according to a new paper from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.
A recent study of the Space Force’s launch infrastructure found that the service needs a third launch site to manage surging government and commercial launch demand.
After eight months leading the Space Development Agency on an acting basis, Gurpartap “GP” Sandhoo was named SDA’s permanent leader and given a second hat as the Space Force’s portfolio acquisition executive for missile warning and tracking programs, the service announced May 19.