HELSINKI — China has recovered precious lunar samples after a successful reentry and landing of the Chang’e-5 return capsule. 

The roughly 300-kilogram Chang’e-5 return capsule performed a ballistic skip reentry at 12:33 p.m.

WASHINGTON — The White House released a new space policy directive Dec. 16 intended to serve as a strategic roadmap for the development of space nuclear power and propulsion technologies.

Space Policy Directive (SPD) 6, titled “National Strategy for Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion,” discusses responsibilities and areas of cooperation among federal government agencies in the development of capabilities ranging from surface nuclear power systems to nuclear thermal propulsion, collectively known as space nuclear power and propulsion (SNPP).

SAN FRANCISCO – Now that it’s spun out of Analytical Graphics Inc., Comspoc operates more like a startup focused on space situational awareness, space domain awareness and space traffic coordination and management than a corporate business unit, Travis Langster, Comspoc vice president and general manager, told SpaceNews.

SAN FRANCISCO – Hawkeye 360 is delivering radio frequency data and analytics to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency as part of a pilot program to evaluate the value of the information for intelligence activities.

Hawkeye 360 announced Dec. 16 that it has been supplying data to NGA and the U.S.

ESA will contribute to the maintenance, operations and modernisation of Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana over the period 2020–24.

Space has forever captured the imagination of people around the world. Starting in the late 1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union recognized the national security importance of space, fueling the initial space race that culminated in the Apollo moon landings.

Washington DC (SPX) Dec 09, 2020
NASA's Science Mission Directorate has awarded prize funding of $100,000 each to six entrepreneurial startup companies under its pilot Entrepreneur's Challenge program for concepts ranging from machine learning to enable exploration and other technologies to new ways to build instruments to study the universe. NASA partnered with Starburst, the global aero

Vostochny, Russia (SPX) Dec 15, 2020
Flight ST29, the first commercial mission from Vostochny Cosmodrome performed by Arianespace and its Starsem affiliate, will put 36 of OneWeb's satellites into a near-polar orbit at an altitude of 450 kilometers. After separation, the satellites will raise themselves to their operational orbit. The first six OneWeb satellites were successfully orbited by Arianespace on Soyuz Flight VS21 fr