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In this issue:
Relativity Space achieved a massively important milestone just before 11:30 PM ET on Wednesday, with the first-ever flight of its 3D-printed rocket technology. Its Terran 1 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, successfully clearing the pad and launch structure, and achieving “Max Q” — or the point during the launch sequence at which the vehicle is under the most pressure in terms of atmospheric resistance and stress — and also succeeded at cutting off its main engines and separating its first stage as intended. – Darrell Etherington
The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has awarded five-year study contracts to six space companies that provide hyperspectral satellite imagery — BlackSky, Orbital Sidekick, Pixxel, Planet, Xplore and HyperSat — as the agency seeks to expand its remote sensing capabilities.
The NRO, the arm of the Department of Defense that conducts space-based spying and surveillance, released a request for proposals from hyperspectral satellite operators last November. The awards announced today were granted under the agency’s Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) Framework, a program that’s used to rapidly acquire and integrate new space-based sensing technologies. The agency has previously awarded BAA contracts for radio frequency remote sensing and commercial radar technology.
An NRO spokesperson told TechCrunch it anticipates the value of each contract to be about $300,000, and that “they can quickly be scaled to much higher values as mission value, customer requirements, and on-orbit provider capabilities are confirmed.”
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Source @TechCrunch
