A reprieve for Orbital Express
Posted: Wed, Jul 11, 2007, 8:09 AM ET (1209 GMT)
DARPA's Orbital Express mission, scheduled to end earlier this month, will remain active while Air Force officials study potential additional experiments that could be performed by the spacecraft. Orbital Express, a pair of satellites designed to test on-orbit servicing technologies, completed its final planned experiment at the end of June and was scheduled to be decommissioned last week, after proposals by DARPA and NASA to perform additional tests were rejected. However, officials said Tuesday that those decommissioning plans were put on hold to allow the Air Force to propose additional tests. The scope of those tests, and how long they would take to conduct, were not disclosed. A decision on extending the Orbital Express mission could come as soon as Thursday.
DARPA's Orbital Express mission, scheduled to end earlier this month, will remain active while Air Force officials study potential additional experiments that could be performed by the spacecraft. Orbital Express, a pair of satellites designed to test on-orbit servicing technologies, completed its final planned experiment at the end of June and was scheduled to be decommissioned last week, after proposals by DARPA and NASA to perform additional tests were rejected. However, officials said Tuesday that those decommissioning plans were put on hold to allow the Air Force to propose additional tests. The scope of those tests, and how long they would take to conduct, were not disclosed. A decision on extending the Orbital Express mission could come as soon as Thursday.| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Thales and Airbus to build next-generation radar imaging satellites
Posted: Sat, Jun 13 10:02 AM ET (1402 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Thursday, June 18
ESA Studies Doubling Ariane 6 Flight Cadence
Aviation Week — 5:21 am ET (0921 GMT) Northrop Grumman to Advance Military’s Protected Satellite Communications
Northrop Grumman — 5:20 am ET (0920 GMT) Two Offices Face a Shaky Future in U.S. Space Force Acquisition Overhaul
Aviation Week — 5:20 am ET (0920 GMT) Eutelsat Secures First Order Under French Defense Agreement
ViaSatellite — 5:20 am ET (0920 GMT) Blue Origin Says It Will Launch a New Glenn Rocket This Year
Bloomberg News — 5:16 am ET (0916 GMT) |
