Launch

Firefly Aerospace has announced the execution of a Launch Services Agreement (LSA) with Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) for use of the Firefly Alpha launch vehicle. Under the agreement, Firefly will provide up to six Alpha launches from 2020 to 2022. The Alpha launch vehicle will allow for deployment of SSTL satellites as a primary...

The first satellite in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) new Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) has passed testing and is now operational. Launched last November as JPSS-1 and renamed NOAA-20 once it reached orbit, the satellite provides the National Weather Service with global data for numerical weather prediction models used to develop timely and accurate U.S. weather forecasts....

It is said that history repeats itself, but could this be true of rockets launched from high-altitude balloons (aka rocoons)? Used in the 1950s Air Force program Farside, could rockoons make a comeback? Dane Rudy, CEO of Leo Aerospace, would like to see a resurgence. His recent promotion of the smallsats ballooning into stratosphere follow...

The twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) satellites, developed and built by Airbus, are closer to continuing the climate record established by the predecessor GRACE mission of 2002–2017, following their successful launch into space Tuesday aboard aSpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. GRACE-FO is a joint project between NASA and the German Research Centre for...

Iridium Communications successfully launched five Iridium Next satellites aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California yesterday. The Iridium satellites were joined by the twin spacecraft for the NASA/German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission, in a unique “rideshare” launch. Shortly after deployment, Iridium...

Orbital ATK successfully launched the company’s Antares rocket carrying its Cygnus spacecraft from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad 0A on Wallops Island, Virginia, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. The launch marks Orbital ATK’s ninth cargo mission for NASA. According to Orbital ATK, the Antares medium-class rocket matched its record for the heaviest cargo load carried...

The Atlantic’s Marina Koren investigates the mystery surrounding how little is known about Swarm Technologies – the California-based startup aerospace company that made history this past January by becoming the first to secretly launch unauthorized satellites into orbit. What makes the situation even more incredible is that Swarm pulled the launch off despite applying for...

It is not every day you get to interview one of the world’s most celebrated entrepreneurs and businessmen but I got the opportunity last March during the SATELLITE 2018 Conference & Exhibition in Washington, D.C. Even though I have done many interviews with CEOs all over the world, I still feel the buzz going to...

Northern Sky Research’s (NSR) Satellite Manufacturing and Launch Services, 8th Edition report finds that despite a slow 2017, across the board, the global satellite manufacturing and launch market is poised to generate in excess of $250 billion in the next decade. As both commercial and government players begin deploying constellations, turning to SmallSats to provide more flexibility across...

SpaceX successfully launched the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 on Friday from the historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Following stage separation, the Falcon 9’s first stage successfully landed on “Of Course I Still Love You,” SpaceX’s droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The Bangabandhu Satellite-1 mission is the first to use...