DARPA – Page 2 – Spaceflight Now

Timeline for Rocket Lab’s launch of DARPA’s R3D2 tech demo satellite

March 24, 2019 Stephen Clark

Rocket Lab’s light-class Electron launcher is set to take off on its fifth flight from New Zealand, aiming for a 264-mile-high (425-kilometer) orbit with DARPA’s R3D2 technology demonstration satellite.

Live coverage: Rocket Lab launches experimental satellite for DARPA

March 24, 2019 Stephen Clark

Rocket Lab’s first launch of the year lifted off Thursday at 7:27 p.m. EDT (2327 GMT) after a four-day delay to replace a video transmitter and wait for improved weather. The company’s Electron rocket launched from Mahia Peninsula on New Zealand’s North Island with a technology demonstration satellite for DARPA, the U.S. military research and development agency.

Rocket Lab readies for launch with U.S. military satellite

March 23, 2019 Stephen Clark

Rocket Lab teams in New Zealand are preparing for the company’s first launch of the year Sunday (U.S. time) with a small experimental satellite for DARPA, the U.S. military’s research and development agency.

Spaceflight preps for first launch of unique orbiting satellite deployers

August 23, 2018 Stephen Clark

Engineers working for Spaceflight, a Seattle-based launch services company, are in the final steps of preparing for the first launch of new robotic free flyers carrying more than 70 small government and commercial satellites into polar orbit later this year aboard a dedicated flight of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Rapid-fire engine tests raise hopes for DARPA’s planned reusable spaceplane

July 18, 2018 Stephen Clark

A series of unprecedented back-to-back test-firings of a rocket engine originally developed for NASA’s space shuttle concluded earlier this month, giving engineers data crucial to achieving rapid 24-hour turnarounds planned for a U.S. military-funded reusable winged booster under construction at Boeing, government and industry officials said.

SpaceX’s most recent launch carried a secret military-funded experiment

March 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

A previously-undisclosed payload funded by a U.S. military research agency rode into orbit with a Spanish communications satellite on SpaceX’s most recent Falcon 9 rocket launch March 6, officials said Friday.

Photos: Minotaur 4 blasts off from Cape Canaveral

August 30, 2017 Stephen Clark

A solid-fueled Minotaur 4 rocket lifted off early Saturday from Cape Canaveral with a U.S. military payload designed to monitor satellite traffic in geosynchronous orbit.

U.S. military sleuth launched to track satellite and space debris movements

August 26, 2017 Stephen Clark

Receiving a boost from a modified decades-old Peacekeeper missile originally built for nuclear war, a U.S. military space surveillance satellite streaked into space early Saturday from Cape Canaveral to help the Air Force track threats and debris in orbit.

Video: Minotaur 4 launch replay

August 26, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Minotaur 4 rocket made up of five solid-fueled rocket motors delivered a U.S. military satellite tracking craft into an equatorial orbit early Saturday after lifting off from Cape Canaveral.

Minotaur 4 launch timeline with the ORS-5 satellite

August 25, 2017 Stephen Clark

Track the major events during the Minotaur 4 rocket’s 28-minute climb into a unique equatorial orbit with the ORS-5 space surveillance satellite for the U.S. military’s Operationally Responsive Space office.