Military/Aerospace Electronics

Rocket Lab USA has won two worth $14 million to provide satellite separation systems for the U.S. Space Development Agency’s T1TL (Tranche 1 Transport Layer) satellites. The two contracts will see the space launch services company supply 80 Lightband Separation Systems (Lightbands) to the manufacturers of the satellites, one of which is Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor involved. These Lightbands ...

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is celebrating its in-space satellite servicing robot passing initial tests. All component-level tests have been completed, it reports, on its DARPA’s Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) program and the on-orbit demonstration mission is on schedule for launch in 2024. The goal is to help address the growing problem of space debris ...

The UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has hosted the UK’s first high-powered, long range laser directed energy weapon (LDEW) trial, for the DragonFire system. Taking place on the Ministry of Defence’s range at Porton Down in Wiltshire, it involved firing the demonstrator at a number of targets over a number of ranges, requiring pinpoint accuracy from the beam ...

UK Government ministers visited Spaceport Cornwall in Newquay yesterday ahead of the long planned, and long awaited, first satellite launch from UK soil. But still no date has been announced.   Science Minister, George Freeman, and Transport Technology Minister, Jesse Norman, joined representatives from the UK Space Agency to meet the spaceport people behind the mission and see Virgin Orbit’s ...

Euroconsult is forecasting that – despite or because of ongoing geopolitical issues – global government spending on space exploration will reach $31 billion by 2031. While the US and China are the biggest investors in the sector, many new governmental players are joining the market, says the Paris-based consultancy in its latest report, Prospects for Space Exploration, 3rd edition. Among ...

Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT), the provider of small satellites and spacecraft systems components, has announced its ESPA Grande Saturn spacecraft bus will be a part of the maiden QS-1 mission of Quantum Space in October 2024. The company – which is based in Boulder, Colorado – is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, having been bought two years ago. Cislunar QS-1 ...

General B. Chance Saltzman has been officially installed as the new U.S. Chief of Space Operations, the Space Force’s highest-ranking military post. Saltzman succeeds General John W. “Jay” Raymond who was the first to lead the newly created arm of U.S. military services. The Space Force’s responsibilities are training, equipping and organising a cadre of space professionals to protect U.S. ...

Orbex has committed to building and operating the first vertical launch site for satellites on the UK mainland, in Sutherland. Spaceport Cornwall will imminently see the UK’s first satellite launch, but this will be a “horizontal” delivery, based on modified aircraft using existing airport infrastructure. Orbex, and Sutherland, will support “vertical”, rocket-based launches. The Scottish rocket manufacturer – based in ...

Altimeters are an essential component in an aeronautical safety-of-life system, but they can be at risk as the RF spectrum shifts to 5G, warns Peter Matthews of Knowles Precision Devices. Pilots rely on radio altimeters to provide accurate measurements of an aircraft’s distance above the Earth’s surface, especially during the approach and landing phases of a flight. Data received from ...

ESA is planning an in-orbit demonstration with new navigation satellites that will orbit just a few hundred kilometres up in space. It is part of its FutureNAV initiative. The long-term goal is to bring satnav closer to Earth, by extending GNSS and supporting positional navigation and timing (PNT) services from low Earth orbit (LEO) . The mini-constellation will eventually supplement ...