Launch

On Orbit is a bi-weekly podcast hosted by Via Satellite Executive Editor and SATELLITE Chair Jeffrey Hill, focusing on the socioeconomic value and problem-solving power of commercial space technologies. At SATELLITE 2019, Jeff hosted a fireside chat on 3D Printed rockets with Tim Ellis, CEO and Founder of Relativity, a unique launch service company that...

On Thursday night, SpaceX launched a batch of 60 internet communications satellites from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. More than one hour later, some 270 miles above Earth, the cluster of satellites — part of a system called Starlink — pushed off from the rocket that carried it to orbit. The individual satellites...

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C46) successfully launched its RISAT-2B Earth Observation (EO) satellite from Satish Dhawan Space Center (SDSC) on Wednesday. PSLV-C46 lifted-off at 5:30 IST from the First Launch Pad and injected RISAT-2B into a orbit of 556 kilometers (km), about 15 minutes and 25 seconds after lift-off. After separation, solar arrays of RISAT-2B...

Maxar Technologies was selected by NASA to build and perform a spaceflight demonstration of the lunar Gateway’s power and propulsion element spacecraft. Blue Origin and Draper will join the Maxar-led team in designing, building and operating the spacecraft through the demonstration period. The power and propulsion element is a key component to NASA’s overall plans...

China attempted to launch a top-secret military payload into space early Thursday morning, but the attempt ended in a rain of wreckage. The loss of the Long March 4C rocket and its satellite marks the nation’s second launch failure of 2019. The first was a commercial launch in March by the Chinese aerospace startup OneSpace....

Viasat was awarded a contract by the Administrator of the Space Enterprise Consortium, under the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles XVI program, to deliver and test the first-ever Link 16-capable Low Earth Orbit (LEO) spacecraft. The Viasat-designed spacecraft is intended to enhance warfighters’ situational awareness by extending the range of Link 16 networks...

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced today that its Orbital Test Bed (OTB) satellite has arrived at Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL to complete launch preparations in anticipation of launching the spacecraft as part of the U.S. Air Force’s Space Technology Program 2 (STP-2) flight on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. OTB satellites host...

China launched a new satellite for the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 11:48 p.m. local time Friday. The satellite was launched on a Long March-3C carrier rocket, and is also the fourth BDS-2 backup satellite and 45th satellite of the BDS satellite family. After being sent to Geostationary Orbit...

SpaceX delayed the launch of 60 satellites as part of its ambitious Starlink internet project for the second time in a week, saying that the launch will now take place in “about a week” to allow time for a software update and to “triple-check everything.” SpaceX, the rocket company founded and led by Elon Musk,...

Earth to Sky (ETS) signed a definitive launch services agreement with Delta Satellite Solutions (DSS), a provider of payload and satellite integration services for academic institutions. The launch will occur in March 2021 to 550 kilometers (km) sun synchronous orbit and will launch 120 cubesats. “We are very excited to be working with DSS, supporting opportunities...