Finance

[Via Satellite 03-22-2016] Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has received an order for H2A launch services from the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), for launch of the Emirates Mars Mission’s (EMM) Hope spacecraft. MBRSC, formerly the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST), and MHI plan to launch the...

[Via Satellite 03-18-2016] The European Space Agency (ESA) has appointed Daniel Neuenschwander as the agency’s director of launchers though a council meeting in Paris on March 16. Neuenschwander is currently head of the Swiss Space Office and the Swiss delegation to ESA, as well as Chairman of the Program Board Launchers (PB-LAU). He also serves as...

[Via Satellite 03-18-2016] Virgin Galactic’s Boeing 747-400 carrier aircraft for its LauncherOne small satellite launch service, nicknamed “Cosmic Girl,” has arrived at L-3’s platform integration facilities for its next phase of modifications. The aircraft completed a heavy maintenance check prior to its arrival. Once L-3’s modifications are complete, Cosmic Girl will be able to carry...

[Via Satellite 03-14-2016] A Russian Proton rocket launched March 14 carrying the joint Roscosmos State Corporation–European Space Agency (ESA) ExoMars 2016 mission. Rocket manufacturer Khrunichev reported a nominal separation of the orbital unit, comprised of the Schiaparelli landing demonstrator, and the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), approximately nine minutes into flight. ExoMars is the second Proton-M launch...

[Via Satellite 03-10-2016] The question of launch vehicle reusability reigned supreme during Wednesday’s SATELLITE 2016 Conference & Exhibition closing session “Global Launch Services — How the World Fell in Love with Rockets All Over Again,” which featured representatives from Europe’s Arianespace, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), International Launch Services (ILS), the U.S. subsidiary of Russia’s...

[Via Satellite 03-08-2016] Aerojet Rocketdyne has completed a series of successful hot-fire tests of its RL10 upper-stage rocket engine. The RL10 development engine, dubbed XR708, included a core main injector built using additive manufacturing technology, often referred to as 3-D printing. The work was done in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force and NASA’s Glenn...

[Via Satellite 03-03-2016] Inmarsat has decided to launch the fourth Global Xpress satellite, originally procured from Boeing as a spare but with the potential to support an incremental business case, in the latter part of 2016. The operator announced intentions to orbit the satellite with its full year financial results March 3, stating that the...

[Via Satellite 02-26-2016] The European Commission (EC) is accelerating the deployment of the Galileo space segment by adding a Soyuz launch in 2016. As the program manager for Galileo, Europe’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), the EC decided to ramp up the launch cadence based on the confirmed availability of the satellites from manufacturer OHB....

[Via Satellite 02-26-2016] SpaceX announced another delay for the Falcon 9 rocket carrying the SES 9 satellite on Thursday night. The launch, originally scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 24, was held for unknown reasons at 6:45 p.m. just minutes after the Feb. 25 launch window opened. The launch company tweeted a statement noting that the teams...

[Via Satellite 02-26-2016] Rocket Lab, manufacturer and operator of the Electron small satellite launch vehicle, has hired Garrett Katzenstein, formerly SpaceX’s senior manager for mission and launch operations, as vice president of product and mission management. Katzenstein will oversee customer experience from point of sale through vehicle integration and mission completion. Katzenstein has nearly 20...