Industry News

Deloitte plans to expand the professional services firm’s U.S. Technology Delivery Center in Orlando, Florida and hire additional software development, system analysis and information technology workers as part of the expansion initiative, the Orlando Economic Development Commission reported Thursday. Laureen Martinez writes Deloitte has partnered with the City of Lake Mary, CareerSource Central Florida and the Orlando Economic […] More

Iridium Communications has been awarded a potential five-year, $45.8 million contract by the U.S. Navy to continue to provide communication services in support of the Defense Department‘s tactical, operational and strategic operations. DoD said Tuesday the follow-on contract has a base value of $8.7 million and covers satellite-based network services in the satellite, ground node, user equipment/terminal software and hardware development, integration […] More

An Orbital ATK-built Cygnus spacecraft has departed from the International Space Station after a commercial resupply mission to start two secondary mission objectives. The S.S. Alan Poindexter spacecraft will launch the Spacecraft Fire Experiment-II to help study the behavior of fires in microgravity, then deploy CubeSats into orbit to support weather forecasting, Orbital ATK said Monday. The space vehicle […] More

The National Institutes of Health has asked industry to provide information on scientific data sharing and management methods as well as standards for software and data citation. NIH issued the request for information as part of the implementation of the agency’s Plan for Increasing Access to Scientific Publications and Digital Scientific Data from NIH Funded […] More

Fitch Ratings has said U.S. government reimbursements and lower funding requirements can help mitigate cash flow impacts to defense contractors over the next three-to-four years as the companies face large underfunded pension liabilities. Changes to accounting rules enacted in 2012 will continue to impact interest rates used to calculate pension benefit obligations discount rates and will also affect reimbursements through 2017, […] More

The Washington-based National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine has secured a potential five-year, $34 million contract from NASA to conduct studies within the domain of the space agency’s science and technology programs. NASA said Saturday the Space Studies Board indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract covers research designed to address various questions regarding space science, Earth science, biological and physical […] More

Vector Space Systems has secured $1.25 million in a seed funding round headed by Space Angels Network to support Vector’s development of commercial launch vehicles for low-Earth orbit microsatellites. Space Angels Network offers an online investment platform designed to help accredited investors finance aerospace companies through managed funds, Vector said Friday. Vector co-founder and CEO Jim Cantrell said the […] More

AquaHarmonics has won a $1.5 million grand prize in the Energy Department‘s design-build-test competition that aims to support the development of wave energy converters. DoE said Wednesday CalWave Power Technologies and Waveswing America will receive $500,000 and $250,000 in respective cash prizes as second and third place winners of the Wave Energy Prize. “This competition set a difficult threshold […] More

Raytheon looks to add up to 2,000 positions over the next five years through an expansion of the defense company’s missile systems business headquarters in Tucson, Arizona. Raytheon said Friday it will hire workers at all skill levels to serve in engineering and higher-wage technical roles. Taylor Lawrence, president of Raytheon’s missile systems unit, said that several Arizona-based organizations will help the company meet workforce and infrastructure needs to […] More

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Navy‘s Office of Naval Research aim to commence ground-based and at-sea flight tests of a Northrop Grumman-built prototype unmanned air system in 2018 as part of the Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node program. DARPA said Thursday its joint Tern project with ONR seeks to utilize forward-deployed small-deck ships such as destroyers and frigates as mobile launch […] More