Finance

Arianespace announced a new launch services contract with Eutelsat after the launch provider successfully orbited both the Eutelsat 172B and ViaSat 2 satellites on June 1. The Arianespace order book now includes three future launches for Eutelsat: the SSL-built Eutelsat 7C, to be orbited in 2018, followed in 2019 by Eutelsat Quantum built by Airbus,...

Iridium Communications announced that the second launch for its Next satellite constellation has been moved earlier, and is now targeted for June 25 at 1:24 a.m. PDT with an instantaneous launch window. SpaceX informed Iridium that range availability had opened up at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California, where SpaceX’s West Coast launch facility is...

International Launch Services (ILS) confirmed that the Proton-M Integrated Launch Vehicle (ILV) will orbit the EchoStar 21 satellite at 6:45 a.m. Moscow time on June 8 (11:45 p.m. EDT, June 7). Processing of Proton-M ILV and EchoStar 21 is currently underway at Baikonur Spaceport. The Breeze M upper stage will deliver the spacecraft to the...

What do you get when you mix a business jet with a spaceship? Presumably, it would result in Phantom Express, Boeing and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s (DARPA) aircraft-like vehicle. DARPA selected Boeing to complete advanced design work, and investment is coming from both parties. The United States is looking to develop low-cost,...

Rocket Lab announced that its Electron rocket reached space after lifting off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand on May 25. According to Rocket Lab, the Electron is the first orbital-class rocket launched from a private launch site in the world. “We had a great first stage burn,...

Arianespace announced that it successfully launched the SES 15 satellite onboard a Soyuz rocket from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. This is SES’ first satellite to launch on a Soyuz rocket for a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) mission. SES 15 carries a hybrid payload, comprising Ku-band wide beams and Ku-band High-Throughput Satellite...

Aerojet Rocketdyne recently completed a series of hot-fire tests on a 30,000 lbf thrust-class Bantam liquid-fueled rocket engine built with additive manufacturing. This is a 500 percent increase in the thrust level from the Baby Bantam engine the company 3D-printed and tested in June 2014. According to the company, at the 30,000 lbf thrust level, this engine...

SpaceX has successfully launched Inmarsat’s fourth and final high-speed broadband communications satellite, Inmarsat 5 F4, for its Global Xpress constellation. The satellite flew atop a Falcon 9 from Launchpad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Following satellite separation at 7:53 p.m. EDT, Inmarsat acquired telemetry from its Perth ground station at 8:04 p.m....

For its fifth launch of the year, Arianespace will use a Soyuz launcher to orbit SES 15 — the first all-electric Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellite for the European operator SES. This will mark Soyuz’ second mission in 2017 to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) from the Guiana Space Center. VS17 will launch from the Soyuz Launch...

Space Systems Loral (SSL) announced that the BulgariaSat 1 satellite, designed and built for Bulgaria Sat, has arrived at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where it will launch aboard a flight-proven Falcon 9 in June. BulgariaSat 1 will be Bulgaria’s first satellite. BulgariaSat 1 will provide Direct-to-Home (DTH) television and telecommunications services in the...