EchoStar Corp. and Arianespace, SA, have reached an agreement to launch multiple new satellites over a multi-year period from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana. The new contract will provide EchoStar with launch capacity and flexibility for its industry-leading satellite program. “In July, EchoStar’s wholly owned subsidiary, Hughes completed the successful launch of EchoStar XVII with…

NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and their international partners have selected two veteran spacefarers for a one-year mission aboard the International Space Station in 2015. This mission will include collecting scientific data important to future human exploration of our solar system. NASA has selected Scott Kelly and Roscosmos has chosen Mikhail Kornienko. Kelly…

Acting Under Secretary of the Air Force Dr. Jamie Morin addressed more than 320 Airmen, industry officials and Air Force Association members at AFA’s Global Warfare Symposium in Los Angeles, Calif., Nov. 15. Morin opened the symposium with a discussion on space superiority as an enduring source of American strength. “Space is a fundamental pillar…

NASA has awarded a contract extension to MEI Technologies, Inc., of Houston for the Headquarters Electrical Systems Engineering Services Interim contract. The ordering period has been extended for six months from Nov. 9, 2012, to May 8, 2013. The maximum ordering value of this indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contract has been increased by almost $50 million to…

The Lockheed Martin team developing the U.S. Air Force’s next generation Global Positioning System III satellites has completed thermal vacuum testing for the Navigation Payload Element of the GPS III Non-Flight Satellite Testbed. The milestone is one of several environmental tests verifying the navigation payload’s quality of workmanship and increased performance compared to the current…

NASA has awarded $12.6 million to colleges and universities to conduct research and technology development in areas important to the agency’s mission. In addition to research and technology development, the awards enable faculty development and support higher education students. The selections are part of NASA’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR. The program…

NASA has selected Science Applications International Corp. of McLean, Va., to provide information technology support for systems that support a wide array of flight operations across the agency. NASA Aircraft Management Information System is an indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity, contract managed at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The three-year base contract will be effective from…

Lockheed Martin has been selected to apply its extensive experience with protected satellite communications to support a new generation of agile, commercially based military satellite communications technologies. The U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center MILSATCOM Systems Directorate, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to demonstrate concepts that allow…

A remote sensing instrument that will peer into the ultraviolet to offer clues to how Mars might have lost its atmosphere has arrived at Lockheed Martin for integration into NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft. “The Remote Sensing package team built a system that meets all technical requirements and delivered it on schedule…