Air Force and NRO leaders emphasized their close ties at the 34th Space Symposium here and offered proof the relationship is helping them share capabilities. SpaceNews.com

David Hartshorn, one of the satellite industry’s most vocal advocates and a prominent defender of its spectrum rights, is resigning from the Global VSAT Forum. SpaceNews.com

Blue Origin's CEO says he expects the company’s BE-4 engine to complete qualification testing by the end of the year as the company ramps up work on its New Glenn orbital rocket. SpaceNews.com

The number of space-related technology patent applications filed in China over the five-year period grew by 13.3 percent. SpaceNews.com

WASHINGTON — French fleet operator Eutelsat finished a lengthy 302 million euro ($372.9 million) sale of its stake in Spanish fleet operator Hispasat after gaining long-awaited approval from Spain’s government. The divestiture was first announced last May and expected to close that year, but required approval from Spain’s Council of Ministers, which didn’t occur until […] SpaceNews.com

The most contentious nomination process for a NASA administrator in the agency’s six-decade history came to an end April 19 when the Senate voted to confirm Jim Bridenstine. SpaceNews.com

Harris Corp. plans to offer the U.S. Air Force an updated version of a legacy sensor for future weather satellite. SpaceNews.com

Arianespace on April 19 announced a agreement Japan’s Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation BSAT and satellite manufacturer Space Systems Loral to launch the BSAT-4b satellite on an Ariane 5 rocket in 2020. SpaceNews.com

DARPA announced a prize competition April 18 to demonstrate the ability to rapidly launch small satellites, a competition whose regulatory challenges may tower over its technical ones. SpaceNews.com

Public-private partnerships have been used fairly extensively and effectively for funding space activities, and they are attracting even more attention as sources of public financing grow scarce. SpaceNews.com

Russia’s Proton rocket launched for the first time this year April 18 with a military communications satellite for the federation’s ministry of defense. SpaceNews.com

If a new commercial space station is “paid for by Taco Bell, it will be the Taco Bell Space Station,” said Benjamin Reed, deputy director for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Satellite Servicing Projects Division. SpaceNews.com

The host satellite, built by Danish cubesat specialist GomSpace, is a so-called 6U cubesat measuring 20x30x10 centimeters. SpaceNews.com

In anticipation of more business from rocket and satellite manufacturers, Ruag is ramping up investments in its U.S. operations in Alabama, Florida and in a research center in California’s Silicon Valley. SpaceNews.com

York Space Systems, a Denver-based satellite manufacturer, announced plans April 17 to work with Swiss satellite and rocket component supplier Ruag Space on payload adapters for York's S-Class satellites. SpaceNews.com

As NASA shifts its human spaceflight program towards a return to the moon, the programs supporting that new direction are creating opportunities for science both on and around the moon. SpaceNews.com

A SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launched a NASA science mission April 18 that will look for planets orbiting other stars. SpaceNews.com

Boeing: The production of two new satellites for the Air Force will “move faster” than the typical WGS schedule. SpaceNews.com

A satellite startup that today announced SoftBank, Airbus, Bill Gates and OneWeb founder Greg Wyler as investors says it has plans to field a constellation of hundreds of satellites to provide global video of the Earth, but provided few details on how it will accomplish that goal. SpaceNews.com

Open Cosmos, a British startup planning to manufacture and operate inexpensive cubesats for customers, announced April 18 it raised $7 million in Series A funding in an investment round led by London-based BGF Ventures. SpaceNews.com