Northrop Grumman
Every Cosmic Herald story on Northrop Grumman — missions, launches, discoveries, and the business of space, newest first.
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Commercial
A Rocket That's Flown Since 1990 Just Launched a Rescue Mission for a Dying NASA Telescope
A commercial spacecraft launched on what may be the last-ever Pegasus rocket to grapple NASA's decaying Swift Observatory and shove it into a safer orbit — a servicing job built and flown in just 10 months.
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Commercial
NASA's $30 Million Gambit to Save the Falling Swift Observatory
A commercial spacecraft built in nine months just launched to catch a decaying NASA telescope before it burns up — the first attempt ever to dock with a government satellite never designed for servicing.
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Missions
Robotic Servicer LINK Launches to Rescue NASA's Swift Observatory From Reentry
After three days of delays, a Pegasus XL rocket dropped from a jet over the Pacific deployed Katalyst Space's LINK spacecraft on a mission to grapple and reboost NASA's decaying Swift Observatory — and to close out the Pegasus program for good.
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Missions
Weather and a Balky Pegasus Keep Katalyst's Swift Rescue Grounded
Katalyst Space's LINK servicing spacecraft, tasked with grappling and reboosting NASA's aging Swift observatory, has been scrubbed three days running — twice for weather and, per follow-up reporting, once when its Pegasus XL failed to deploy.
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Military Space
Space Force Bets on a Jam-Resistant Swarm: First Two PTS-G Satellites Ordered for $437.7M
The U.S. Space Force awarded Viasat and Intelsat General contracts totaling $437.7 million to build the first two operational PTS-G 'Swarm 1' satellites — small, maneuverable, dual-band anti-jam spacecraft meant to replace the aging AEHF fleet, with launch slated for 2028.
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Missions
Astrobotic's Griffin-1 Lunar Lander Heads to California for Environmental Testing
Astrobotic has unveiled its Griffin-1 lunar lander and shipped it to California for environmental testing, marking a critical milestone in the company's Moon delivery ambitions.
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Science & Discovery
The MEO Durability Crisis: Why LEO-Designed Hardware Will Fail the New Orbital Economy
Satellites built with LEO-grade components face premature failure in medium Earth orbit's punishing radiation belt, threatening the economics of planned MEO constellations and servicing hubs.
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Military Space
Northrop Grumman Says It Can Scale Solid Rocket Production — But Washington Has to Commit First
The solid rocket motor maker argues the industrial base is ready to ramp up, but short-term government contracts make it nearly impossible to justify the capital investment needed to do so.
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Military Space
Space Force's Top Rapid-Acquisition Leader Decamps for Nuclear Weapons Center as Congress Rewrites the Playbook
Kelly Hammett's move from the Space Rapid Capabilities Office to Kirtland AFB comes as both chambers of Congress prepare to fold the agile procurement shop into a broader acquisition framework.
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Commercial
China's Spark Space Bets on Electric-Pump Engines to Carve Out a Niche in the Small-Sat Launch Race
Two-year-old Hefei startup Spark Space has test-fired its Lieyan-2 kerosene-LOX engine and closed back-to-back funding rounds totaling over $14.8M, racing to debut its Jinhua-1 rocket by 2027.
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Commercial
Relativity Space Wants to Build a Mars Orbiter — And It's Not Waiting for NASA to Ask
Relativity Space announces plans to privately develop a Mars orbiter, signaling that commercial ambitions in deep space are no longer theoretical.
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Missions
Swift Gets a Second Chance: How Commercial Servicing Is Saving NASA's Gamma-Ray Observatory
After 22 years in orbit, Swift faces imminent reentry from solar-driven decay. Katalyst Space's LINK robotic spacecraft will perform NASA's first commercial orbital rescue, boosting the aging but productive observatory to a stable orbit.
