Tag Archives: launch services

Lockheed Martin has contracted ABL Space Systems, a provider of low-cost launch vehicles and launch systems for the small satellite industry, to provide a rocket and launch services for Lockheed Martin’s first UK vertical satellite launch, UK Pathfinder. Lockheed Martin’s UK Pathfinder Launch is planned to be the first vertical small satellite launch from UK soil, which is planned to launch from Scotland in 2022. 

Brig. Gen. D. Jason Cothern, vice commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), said the U.S. Space Force will continue working with launch providers after selecting two contractors for a national security mission. The Space Force previously awarded contracts to SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA) to utilize the former’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy vehicles.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to tap the private sector after declaring no contest winners for the agency’s commercial launch competition. Astra, the sole competitor, failed to conduct the launch within the specified time period.

Pam Underwood, director of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Office of Spaceports, has said that her office is working with the U.S. Space Force to update management procedures for East and West-Coast ranges, SpaceNews reported Friday.

Brig. Gen. Douglas Schiess, director of the Eastern Range at Patrick Air Force Base, said the range is preparing to launch 40 rockets in 2020, Space News reported Wednesday.

Lt. Gen. John Thompson, the U.S. Air Force’s Space And Missile Systems Center commander, said the military branch is releasing a final launch services solicitation within the next two weeks, Space News reported Wednesday. Thompson noted in a testimony to the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces that competition for the National Security Space Launch program must push through according to schedule despite industry concerns.