Launch

NanoRacks signed its first customer contract for a small satellite rideshare on the India Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Polar Space Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Spire, a long-time customer of NanoRacks, has signed to fly four of their Lemur 3U CubeSats, targeting a March 2019 flight. Spire’s CubeSats aim to offer data and analytics for parts of the...

SpaceX postponed the Tuesday launch of a Falcon 9 rocket, which would carry the GPS III satellite for the U.S. Air Force. “SpaceX team called a hold due to an out of family reading on first stage sensors. Vehicle and payload remain healthy; next launch attempt is tomorrow at 9:07 EST, 14:07 UTC,” according to...

An SRI International cubesat space-weather mission, the Ionospheric Scintillation Explorer (ISX), was launched into space on Dec. 15 as one of the payloads on the most recent Rocket Lab launch. The mission, supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), aims to investigate regions of natural ionospheric turbulence. According to the release, these patches...

Rocket Lab launched its third orbital mission of 2018, successfully deploying satellites to orbit for NASA. The mission, designated Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa)-19 , took place just over a month after Rocket Lab’s last successful orbital launch. Rocket Lab has launched a total of 24 satellites to orbit in 2018. Rocket Lab’s Electron launch...

Ovzon signed a contract with SSL, a Maxar Technologies company, for the manufacturing of the company´s first Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellite. The total investment for the satellite (Ovzon-3) including manufacturing, launch, financing and insurance is estimated to approximately $165.6 million (SEK 1.5 billion). The satellite features a central On-Board Processor (OBP), developed by Ovzon and already...

A source in the space industry told Sputnik International that although OneWeb scaled back its constellation of communication satellites, it won’t change the number of contracted Russia Soyuz carrier rockets. The carrier rockets were going to carry 32 to 36 satellites due to the capacity of a special adapter, but the adapter will be reassembled....

Kratos Defense and Security Solutions revealed that its winning team, led by Space Vector,  received an Indefinite-Delivery/Indefinite-Quantity (IDIQ) contract to support the U.S. Air Force’s Sounding Rocket Program-4 (SRP-4). The seven-year contract has a total potential value of up to $424 million, which is available to Kratos/Space Vector and one other awardee. The Space Vector and...

Axelspace selected the SKY Perfect JSAT and Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) joint ground station service for its GRUS satellite, a commercial Japanese optical Earth observation satellite. The launch of the GRUS-1 satellite is scheduled for Dec. 27, and is the first satellite of a future constellation for the AxelGlobe project. GRUS is a next-generation remote sensing microsatellite, the building...

The U.S. Air Force‘s first Lockheed Martin-built GPS III satellite is now encapsulated for its planned Dec. 18 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. GPS III Space Vehicle 01 (GPS III SV01) underwent pre-launch processing, fueling, and encapsulation at Astrotech Space Operations. During encapsulation, GPS III SV01 was...

XYO Network, a company bridging blockchain technology to the physical world, is partnering with Spaceflight. XYO Network will launch its EtherX satellite with Spaceflight aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 in late 2019, on SpaceX CRS-19. The EtherX is the first of XYO Network’s fleet of satellites, with plans of more to come. According to the release,...