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[Via Satellite 10-062014] Com Dev International has signed a new launch contract for the M3M satellite originally slated to launch on a Russian Soyuz in June 2014. Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has scheduled the satellite for a 2015 launch on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Com Dev’s...

[Via Satellite 10-01-2014] Following NASA’s decision not to use the Dream Chaser “mini-shuttle” to ferry astronauts for the Commercial Crew Program (CCP), Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has ramped up its efforts to find other commercial uses for its space vehicle. In addition to continuing to pursue human spaceflight, the company has also begun exploring other...

[Via Satellite 09-30-2014] After four months, the conclusions regarding Proton’s May 16 failure have been released, citing a “loss of structural integrity of a bolted interface” as the probable cause that led to a series of consequences that ultimately undid the rocket. The International Launch Services (ILS) Failure Review Oversight Board (FROB) drew its conclusions...

[Via Satellite 09-29-2014] Firefly Space Systems, a launch company dedicated to small satellites, is moving from Hawthorne, Calif. to Cedar Park, Texas following a commitment of $1.225 million from the City of Cedar Park Economic Development Corporation. The new office will be close to the company’s test site in Briggs, Texas, which has more than...

[Via Satellite 09-29-2014] The Russian Federal government has completed the first successful launch of the Proton rocket since the failure that destroyed the Russian Satellite Communications Company’s (RSCC) Express AM4R satellite in May 2014. The successful launch occurred on Sept. 28 at 12:23 Moscow Time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Khrunichev State Research and Space Production...

[Via Satellite 09-29-2014] Xinhua, China’s state-run media agency, reports the country has successfully completed the launch of an experimental scientific satellite on Sept. 28 at 1:13 p.m. Beijing time. A Long March-2C carrier rocket delivered the Shijian-11-07 satellite into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, located in the northwestern part of the Gobi Desert....

[Via Satellite 09-26-2014] Executives from Swiss Space Systems (S3) met with Russia’s JSC Kuznetsov to check the NK-39 engines planned to power the unmanned suborbital shuttle SOAR. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding at the Sochi Winter Olympics to collaborate on the engine, which would enable SOAR to launch satellites weighing up to...

[Via Satellite 09-25-2014] After receiving approval from Russia’s State Commission, Roscosmos and the state-run Khrunichev Space Center have moved the Proton M ILV rocket to the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The rocket is currently being readied for a Sept. 28 launch, carrying the relay satellite Loutch SC or “Ray,” which was built by...

[Via Satellite 09-23-2014] Alliant Techsystems (ATK) has offered the United States Air Force a solid rocket alternative to the Russian-built RD-180. The proposal would replace the RD-180 with a domestically produced engine for use in United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) Atlas 5 rocket. According to ATK, the company has grafted new technologies into six solid rocket...

[Via Satellite 09-18-2014] United Launch Alliance (ULA) has selected Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin to build the Blue Engine 4 (BE-4) to replace the Russian-built RD-180, which is currently used to power ULA’s Atlas 5 launch vehicle. The decision follows news from earlier this summer that that ULA had signed multiple contracts to evaluate domestically...