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The Aerospace Corp. relocates HQ to Chantilly
The Aerospace Corp., a nonprofit government contractor that bills itself as running the nation’s only federally funded research and development center “committed to the space enterprise,” officially relocated its headquarters from El Segundo, California, to Chantilly on Thursday. The organization, which provides technical expertise in space-related science and engineering, has no plans f[...]
Virginia 500 Spotlight: CLAYTON TURNER
FIRST JOB: Stock boy at Sears WHAT MAKES ME HAPPIEST: Family and NASA MY MOST VALUED POSSESSION: Joy HOW I BALANCE MY WORK AND PERSONAL LIVES: By being fully present in both for all activities and interactions and not allowing artificial urgency to encroach from one to the other TRAIT I MOST ADMIRE IN OTHERS: […]
Wallops Island lifts off with Rocket Lab addition
Rocket Lab USA is boosting the visibility of one of the United States’ lesser-known spaceports on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Since January, the California-based aerospace company has launched three successful missions from its Launch Complex 2 at Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Rocket Lab selected the spaceport, located within NASA‘s Wallops Flight Facility in Ac[...]
HawkEye 360 promotes COO to president
HawkEye 360’s chief operating officer has been promoted to president, the Herndon-based satellite analytics company announced Tuesday. Rob Rainhart joined HawkEye 360 as vice president of engineering in 2016, a few months after the company’s 2015 founding, and has served as its chief operating officer since 2019. His new role as president is effective immediately. […]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: CLAYTON TURNER
Turner reaches for the stars every day. A 30-year NASA veteran, he is at the helm of NASA’s celebrated Langley Research Center as scientists work to send astronauts back to the moon by 2025 and prepare for the momentous manned mission to Mars. For the past three decades, Turner has served in various engineering and […]
Tech students dig into high-tech mock mine
Robots don’t belong on volleyball courts, but for more than a decade Virginia Tech students had no other large, sandy place to test out mining robots. It was “a real lost opportunity” that students didn’t have a dedicated space to work with mining machines, says Erik Westman, a professor and interim department head at Tech’s […]
Rocket Lab launches first mission from U.S. soil
After more than a month’s delay, Rocket Lab USA’s first launch from U.S. soil at NASA‘s Wallops Flight Facility in Accomack County blasted off Tuesday evening. The mission, “Virginia is for Launch Lovers,” lifted off around 6 p.m. EST from the company’s Launch Complex 2 at Virginia Space‘s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within the NASA facility, […[...]
NASA, Boeing finalize $3.2B Artemis rocket contract
Arlington-based Boeing Corp. will continue manufacturing the core and upper stages of the Space Launch System rockets for NASA‘s Artemis missions that are expected to take astronauts to the moon and beyond in coming years. NASA announced Friday that it finalized its $3.2 billion contract with Boeing, just two days before its Orion spacecraft splashed […]
BWXT begins production of fuel for 1st U.S. microreactor
Lynchburg-based BWX Technologies Inc. has begun producing the nuclear fuel that will power the first microreactor built and operated in the United States, the company announced Wednesday. BWXT will manufacture a nuclear core for Project Pele under a $37 million award from the Idaho National Laboratory, as well as tristructural isotropic particle fuel, known as […]
Rocket Lab announces December Va. launch window
Rocket Lab USA Inc. will launch the first U.S. mission for its Electron rocket from a launch pad on NASA‘s Wallops Flight Facility in Accomack County during a 13-day window that opens Dec. 7. The company announced the Wallops launch Thursday. The mission, called “Virginia is for Launch Lovers,” will deploy satellites for Herndon-based HawkEye […]
New NASA tunnel could boost Va. space industry
As NASA pushes the reaches of space exploration, a new wind tunnel at the agency’s Hampton-based Langley Research Center will serve an important role in journeys beyond Mars and could also boost Virginia’s space industry. In August, NASA broke ground on its new 25,000-square-foot Flight Dynamics Research Facility (FDRF), which will house the 130-foot-tall vertical […]
Artemis I to launch with help from Va. contractors
EDITOR’S NOTE: Monday’s launch was scrubbed by NASA shortly after 8:33 a.m. because of an engine issue. Weather permitting, if the Artemis 1 moon mission launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Monday morning as planned, it will be powered in part by the work of Virginia-based contractors. The uncrewed flight test is the […]
