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Mysterious orbital reckon probes parked at restricted AFB in Australia
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By European Space Agency
Image: Part of the Gibson Desert in Western Australia is featured in this image, captured by the Φsat-2 mission in June 2025. View the full article
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By Space Force
The visit offered a deeper understanding of local space operations, and underscore the installation’s growing role in advancing national defense through innovation and enlisted force development.
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By European Space Agency
Image: This Copernicus Sentinel-3 image shows high concentrations of chlorophyll in yellow-green along the coastline of South Australia, near Adelaide. Chlorophyll-a is a key indicator of the presence of algae in the ocean. View the full article
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By NASA
Credit: NASA NASA has selected six companies to produce studies focused on lower-cost ways to launch and deliver spacecraft of various sizes and forms to multiple, difficult-to-reach orbits.
The firm-fixed-price awards comprise nine studies with a maximum total value of approximately $1.4 million. The awardees are:
Arrow Science and Technology LLC, Webster, Texas Blue Origin LLC, Merritt Island, Florida Firefly Aerospace Inc., Cedar Park, Texas Impulse Space Inc., Redondo Beach, California Rocket Lab, Long Beach, California United Launch Services LLC, Centennial, Colorado “With the increasing maturity of commercial space delivery capabilities, we’re asking companies to demonstrate how they can meet NASA’s need for multi-spacecraft and multi-orbit delivery to difficult-to-reach orbits beyond current launch service offerings,” said Joe Dant, orbital transfer vehicle strategic initiative owner for the Launch Services Program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “This will increase unique science capability and lower the agency’s overall mission costs.”
Each of the six companies will deliver studies exploring future application of orbital transfer vehicles for NASA missions:
Arrow will partner with Quantum Space for its study. Quantum’s Ranger provides payload delivery service as a multi-mission spacecraft engineered for rapid maneuverability and adaptability, enabling multi-destination delivery for missions from low Earth orbit to lunar orbit.
Blue Origin will produce two studies, including one for Blue Ring, a large, high-mobility space platform providing full-service payload delivery, on-board edge computing, hosting, and end-to-end mission operations. It uses hybrid solar-electric and chemical propulsion capability to reach geostationary, cislunar, Mars, and interplanetary destinations. The second is a New Glenn upper stage study.
Firefly’s line of Elytra orbital vehicles offers on-demand payload delivery, imaging, long-haul communications, and domain awareness across cislunar space. Firefly’s Elytra Dark is equipped to serve as a transfer vehicle and enable ongoing operations in lunar orbit for more than five years.
Impulse Space will produce two studies. The company provides in-space mobility with two vehicles, Mira and Helios. Mira is a high-thrust, highly maneuverable spacecraft for payload hosting and deployment, while Helios is a high-energy kick stage to rapidly deliver payloads from low Earth to medium Earth orbits, geostationary orbits and beyond.
Rocket Lab’s two studies will feature the upper stage of the company’s Neutron rocket, as well as a long-life orbital transfer vehicle based on its Explorer spacecraft. Both vehicles are equipped with their own propulsion systems and other subsystems for missions to medium Earth and geosynchronous orbit and deep space destinations like the Moon, Mars, and near-Earth asteroids.
United Launch Alliance will assess the cislunar mission capabilities of an extended-duration Centaur V upper stage. Centaur would be capable of directly delivering multiple rideshare spacecraft to two different orbital destinations in cislunar space, avoiding the need for an additional rocket stage or orbital transfer vehicle.
The studies will be complete by mid-September. NASA will use the findings to inform mission design, planning, and commercial launch acquisition strategies for risk-tolerant payloads, with a possibility of expanding delivery services to larger-sized payloads and to less risk-tolerant missions in the future.
NASA’s Launch Services Program selected providers through the agency’s VADR (Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare Launch Services) contract, which helps foster growth of the U.S. commercial launch market, enabling greater access to space at a lower cost for science and technology missions.
For more information about NASA’s Launch Services Program, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/launch-services-program
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Josh Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov
Leejay Lockhart
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-747-8310
leejay.lockhart@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Aug 05, 2025 LocationKennedy Space Center Related Terms
Partner With Us Commercial Space Kennedy Space Center Space Operations Mission Directorate View the full article
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By NASA
An artist’s concept of NASA’s Orion spacecraft orbiting the Moon while using laser communications technology through the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System.Credit: NASA/Dave Ryan As NASA prepares for its Artemis II mission, researchers at the agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland are collaborating with The Australian National University (ANU) to prove inventive, cost-saving laser communications technologies in the lunar environment.
Communicating in space usually relies on radio waves, but NASA is exploring laser, or optical, communications, which can send data 10 to 100 times faster to the ground. Instead of radio signals, these systems use infrared light to transmit high-definition video, picture, voice, and science data across vast distances in less time. NASA has proven laser communications during previous technology demonstrations, but Artemis II will be the first crewed mission to attempt using lasers to transmit data from deep space.
To support this effort, researchers working on the agency’s Real Time Optical Receiver (RealTOR) project have developed a cost-effective laser transceiver using commercial-off-the-shelf parts. Earlier this year, NASA Glenn engineers built and tested a replica of the system at the center’s Aerospace Communications Facility, and they are now working with ANU to build a system with the same hardware models to prepare for the university’s Artemis II laser communications demo.
“Australia’s upcoming lunar experiment could showcase the capability, affordability, and reproducibility of the deep space receiver engineered by Glenn,” said Jennifer Downey, co-principal investigator for the RealTOR project at NASA Glenn. “It’s an important step in proving the feasibility of using commercial parts to develop accessible technologies for sustainable exploration beyond Earth.”
During Artemis II, which is scheduled for early 2026, NASA will fly an optical communications system aboard the Orion spacecraft, which will test using lasers to send data across the cosmos. During the mission, NASA will attempt to transmit recorded 4K ultra-high-definition video, flight procedures, pictures, science data, and voice communications from the Moon to Earth.
An artist’s concept of the optical communications ground station at Mount Stromlo Observatory in Canberra, Australia, using laser communications technology.Credit: The Australian National University Nearly 10,000 miles from Cleveland, ANU researchers working at the Mount Stromlo Observatory ground station hope to receive data during Orion’s journey around the Moon using the Glenn-developed transceiver model. This ground station will serve as a test location for the new transceiver design and will not be one of the mission’s primary ground stations. If the test is successful, it will prove that commercial parts can be used to build affordable, scalable space communication systems for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
“Engaging with The Australian National University to expand commercial laser communications offerings across the world will further demonstrate how this advanced satellite communications capability is ready to support the agency’s networks and missions as we set our sights on deep space exploration,” said Marie Piasecki, technology portfolio manager for NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program.
As NASA continues to investigate the feasibility of using commercial parts to engineer ground stations, Glenn researchers will continue to provide critical support in preparation for Australia’s demonstration.
Strong global partnerships advance technology breakthroughs and are instrumental as NASA expands humanity’s reach from the Moon to Mars, while fueling innovations that improve life on Earth. Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.
The Real Time Optical Receiver (RealTOR) team poses for a group photo in the Aerospace Communications Facility at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. From left to right: Peter Simon, Sarah Tedder, John Clapham, Elisa Jager, Yousef Chahine, Michael Marsden, Brian Vyhnalek, and Nathan Wilson.Credit: NASA The RealTOR project is one aspect of the optical communications portfolio within NASA’s SCaN Program, which includes demonstrations and in-space experiment platforms to test the viability of infrared light for sending data to and from space. These include the LCOT (Low-Cost Optical Terminal) project, the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration, and more. NASA Glenn manages the project under the direction of agency’s SCaN Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
The Australian National University’s demonstration is supported by the Australian Space Agency Moon to Mars Demonstrator Mission Grant program, which has facilitated operational capability for the Australian Deep Space Optical Ground Station Network.
To learn how space communications and navigation capabilities support every agency mission, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/communicating-with-missions
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