Satellite News

The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) and Boeing recently completed a critical design review for the Protected Tactical SATCOM Prototype (PTS-P), validating Boeing’s technical maturity on the rapid-prototyping programme.

Spire Global, Inc. announced a new space-as-a-service agreement with NorthStar Earth & Space, an Earth & Space Information Services Platform, to build a constellation of satellites focused on space-situational awareness (SSA) and debris monitoring. The first award within the contract is for three satellites, with pre-agreed options for NorthStar to scale the constellation to dozens of satellites as their business operational needs grow.

Astranis has now completed all major tests necessary for its first MicroGEO spacecraft to be ready to ship to the launch site, including vibration and vibroacoustic tests, final solar array and antenna deployment tests, propulsion system tests, software tests, and electrical checkouts. This follows a successful thermal-vacuum, or TVAC, test campaign that was concluded late last year.

Following the completion of critical mirror alignment steps, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) team expects that Webb’s optical performance will be able to meet or exceed the science goals the observatory was built to achieve.