Galileo - one step closer to full operational capability

Four more Galileo satellites were launched on an Ariane 5 launcher from Guyana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guyana, on 12 December 2017 at 18:36 UTC. This launch brings the Galileo system to 22 satellites, with one more launch remaining before the constellation reaches completion.

ESA extends its family with Cyprus and Slovenia

On the 6th of July 2016, Cyprus became the 11th country to sign the European Cooperating State (ECS) Agreement, strengthening its relations with ESA. One day before, on the 5^th of July, Slovenia signed an Association Agreement with ESA. 

U.S. GAO rejects Sierra Nevada’s protest over NASA $6.8 billion space contracts

On January 5, 2015, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), rejected a protest filed by the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) over a NASA contract award to SpaceX and Boeing, to develop crew transportation vehicles to the International Space Station (ISS), under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) Program.

AWST reveals selection criteria for CCtCap

The aerospace magazine Aviation Week and Space Technology (AWST) reports that an internal document by William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s Associate Administrator, sheds light to the selection criteria that NASA used to award to Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) contracts on Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap), in order to transport NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) as of 2017. The main criteria were the maturity of concepts proposed and the degree of risk to schedule.

ViaSat awarded $ 283 million in lawsuit against Space System Loral

ViaSat announced that it was awarded $ 283 million in damages in a lawsuit against Space System Loral (SSL) concerning patent infringement and loss of contract. Loral Space & Communications Inc. has expressed its intention to appeal the judgment.

Space conferences

A non-comprehensive list of space (law) conferences for 2014:

On traveling to Mars

NASA has released an infographic concerning its path to Mars. However, there has been increasing criticism to NASA’s strategy. At the same, studies suggest that a travel to Mars is an extremely dangerous endeavor, to the extent of being viewed as unethical under current astronaut health standards.

Antitrust lawsuit between US firms over Russian rocket engine dropped

According to Space News, Orbital Sciences Corp has dropped the antitrust lawsuit it filed in June 2013 against United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture of Lockheed-Martin and Boeing, in which it alleged monopolization, attempt to monopolize or otherwise restraint the launch systems and services used for medium-class payload missions. The parties will undertake to resolve the issue through negotiations, notwithstanding Orbital’s right to refile the lawsuit.