Launch

On a windy April day in England, a team of 17-year-old students from Allestree Woodlands School in Derby awaited the 20 second launch forming the climax of their six-month engineering project to launch a “CanSat.” Since October 2018, students from 21 countries across Europe, Canada, and Japan have been preparing for the annual European Space...

The governments of South Korea and Japan are each in the midst of building up their respective position, navigation and timing (PNT) satellite constellations to provide more accurate service to their militaries and civilian users, officials said June 11. Many countries – to include the United States, Russia and others – have built up their...

Newtec is working with QinetiQ on two key projects as it enters the Belgian space market. QinetiQ is a science and engineering company operating primarily in the defense, security, space and air markets, and chose Newtec’s Manufacturing Competence Center (MCC), in Erpe-Mere, Belgium, to provide the soldering of on-board electronics for two projects. The work will...

Viasat and Arianespace modified their original ViaSat-3 satellite launch contract, signed in 2016. Under the new agreement, the two companies agreed to move the ViaSat-3 satellite from an Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle to the next-generation Ariane 64 (A64) launcher. With this contract, Viasat will become the first commercial customer to commit to launch on...

Within a year of securing venture funding, Orbit Fab launched their hardware twice to the International Space Station (ISS) and supplied the station with water. Orbit Fab was awarded a contract with the ISS U. S. National Lab to test the key systems of their tankers in microgravity that include pumps, valves, and plumbing. Their in-space...

Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA) signed a launch services contract with an Ariane launch vehicle for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE). JUICE is the first large-class mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program, and its mission is devoted to completing tour of the Jupiter system. The mission will spend at least three years making detailed...

Airspace Internet Exchange (AirspaceIX) wireless technology company, founded by Thomas Choi, launched Saturn Satellite Networks (Saturn). Based in Delaware, the company is building the world’s first space qualified small Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellite platform named Nationsat. Built entirely in the U.S.A. with heritage-based payload and bus components, Nationsat features a full-digital payload and 2.5 kW BUS design...

SpaceX launched three RADARSAT Constellation Mission (RCM) satellites, developed by MDA for the Canadian Space Agency, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. According the release, the satellites began sending and receiving signals from space and will now go through a series of in-orbit maneuvers and tests before entering...

Spaceflight will launch seven spacecraft from five organizations later this month on Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 at the southern tip of Mahia Peninsula, on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island. This mission, also called “Make It Rain” by Rocket Lab as a nod to the weather in both Seattle...

Lockheed Martin delivered the GPS III Contingency Operations (COps) software upgrade to the U.S. Air Force‘s current GPS ground control system on May 22. The upgrade aims to help enable the Air Force to start commanding the new, next-generation GPS III satellites now coming off the production line and beginning to launch. “Positioning, Navigation and...