Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio have won a new contract with the Italian Ministry of Defence, the two companies announced June 16. The contract is for the development of the SICRAL 3 secure satellite communications system, including its ground segment. Covering the development of phases B and C, the contract is worth a total of…

SpaceX’s latest GPS III launch was its fourth time launching this type of satellite for the U.S. military, but Thursday’s mission marked a brand-new milestone: It was the first time a National Security Space Launch (NSSL) mission was conducted on a reused booster.  A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from Launch Complex-40 at Cape…

A Northrop Grumman Minotaur I rocket launched three classified national security payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on Tuesday morning.  The Minotaur rocket took off from Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0B at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on June 15 at 9:35 a.m. EDT. The NRO confirmed that the mission was a success. …

Northrop Grumman’s air-launched Pegasus launch vehicle deployed a payload for the U.S. Space Force over the weekend — in its first launch since 2019. The L-1011 carrier aircraft dubbed Stargazer took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 4:11 a.m. EDT on Sunday, June 13. The Pegasus rocket was released at approximately 40,000 feet, and…