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[Via Satellite 06-22-2016] Spaceflight, the leading provider of integrated launch services for small satellites, has successfully launched a flock of 12 Planet Dove satellites from the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The 12 spacecraft are shoebox-sized satellites that will be delivered into Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) to provide imaging data. Spaceflight...

[Via Satellite 06-16-2016] Airbus Safran Launchers (ASL), prime contractor for the future Ariane 6 launch vehicle, is confident that the rocket the company is developing will cut costs by as much as 50 percent the current price tag of the Ariane 5. The company recently completed the launcher’s first design review, presenting its conclusions to...

[Via Satellite 06-20-2016] Aerojet Rocketdyne achieved full-power during a critical preburner test series at NASA’s Stennis Space Center earlier this month. The test series successfully verified key preburner injector design parameters for the company’s AR1 engine that is being designed to end use of Russian engines for national security space launches. “We remain laser focused...

[Via Satellite 06-20-2016] Space Systems Loral (SSL) announced two of its designed and built satellites launched Saturday aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana are performing post-launch maneuvers according to plan. The two satellites, BRIsat, designed and built for PT. Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. (BRI), and EchoStar...

[Via Satellite 06-17-2016] United Launch Alliance (ULA) has traced the cause of the Atlas 5 rocket’s first stage underperformance during the March 22 OA-6 Cygnus mission to an anomalous propellant mixture ratio. This caused the first stage to shut down prematurely, though the mission, for Orbital ATK, was ultimately successful thanks to an extended burn...

[Via Satellite 06-16-2016] SpaceX completed the launch of two all-electric satellites June 15 using a Falcon 9 full-thrust rocket. The satellites, ABS 2A for ABS and Eutelsat 117 West B for Eutelsat, are the second in a set of all-electric satellites purchased from Boeing. The satellite design gives them lighter mass by ditching the need...

[Via Satellite 06-09-2016] Moon Express and SpaceIL are the only two Google Lunar Xprize competitors to have produced the verified launch contracts required to stay in the $30 million contest beyond 2016. A third competitor, Astrobotic, promises to have a launch contract secured by the end of the year. Company CEO John Thornton said June...

[Via Satellite 06-13-2016] Airbus Safran Launchers has finalized the first design phase for Ariane 6, Europe’s next generation launch system. The successful review enables the company to validate all of the Ariane 6 technical, industrial and programming characteristics. Airbus Safran Launchers presented its conclusions regarding the Ariane 6 to the European Space Agency (ESA) on June...

[Via Satellite 06-13-2016] Launch services provider United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully orbited a payload for the United States National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) using a Delta 4 Heavy rocket on June 11. The national defense mission marks the ninth ULA Delta 4 Heavy mission, currently the world’s largest rocket, which featured a center common booster core...

[Via Satellite 06-10-2016] International Launch Services (ILS) successfully orbited the Intelsat 31 satellite for Intelsat June 9 aboard a Proton Breeze M rocket. The mission design consisted of a 5-burn Breeze M Supersynchronous Transfer Orbit (SSTO) — a method of increasing heavy-lift performance over Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) mission designs. The first three stages of...