Launch

First two Starlink demo satellites, called Tintin A & B, deployed and communicating to Earth stations pic.twitter.com/TfI53wHEtz — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2018 SpaceX completed its third successful launch of 2018 this morning, orbiting the first two test satellites — Tintin A and B — for its Starlink broadband constellation, as well as a...

With an eye toward future deep space missions, Aerojet Rocketdyne and NASA powered up the RS-25 main engine for the agency’s heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) to its highest thrust levels yet. During a 260-second hot fire test on Feb. 21, the RS-25 engine throttled up to 113 percent of its original design thrust level....

At the second National Space Council Meeting, members agreed on a number of new recommendations to reform commercial space regulatory frameworks at the Departments of Transportation and Commerce. According to Vice President Mike Pence, the council’s chairman, under the new regulations the Department of Transportation would require a single license for all types of launch...

Clyde Space has secured its first launch contract, a follow-on order from an initial 6U satellite purchase from Israeli company NSLComm. Under the contract, Clyde Space is delivering an end-to-end mission service package, from spacecraft design, manufacture and launch to on-orbit operations. The 6U spacecraft, NSLSat1, will demonstrate a new high-performance antenna that provides Ka-band...

In the proposed budget for fiscal year 2019, the U.S. Air Force has introduced a new “Rocket Systems Launch Program” that will allocate funds for smallsat launch services. The budget proposal reflects the military’s intent to maintain its leadership position in the space warfighting domain, potentially ensuring a reliable customer base for newly emerging smallsat...

Vector and Open Cosmos announced an agreement to reserve five orbital launches between 2019 and 2023 on the Vector-R launch vehicle. The announcement comes in advance of Vector’s first orbital launch in July. Based in the United Kingdom, Open Cosmos provides end-to-end mission services that allow its clients to focus on in-orbit data. This company enables...

So far, India’s NewSapace sector has languished in ISRO’s shadow. Now, though, that could all be changing. India captured the world’s attention last February, when its national space agency,  the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), broke a record for launching the most payloads in a single mission at 104. The feat was a testament to...

SpaceX conducted a test fire Sunday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California ahead of its fourth launch of the year. On Feb 17, the company will orbit the Paz satellite, built by Airbus for Spanish company HisdeSat, as well as the first prototypes for SpaceX’s own broadband constellation, Starlink. Read more at Geekwire >>

It has been a momentous week for the launch industry with SpaceX making headlines (not for the first time) well beyond the industry press. Its successful Falcon Heavy launch made front-page news across the world, capturing the imagination of people far beyond the space industry. In our Throwback Thursday feature we go back six years...

Qtum Foundation announced a collaboration with the SpaceChain Foundation to launch a standardized CubeSat, which will carry Qtum‘s blockchain software technology on a Raspberry Pi device. The electricity required for cryptocurrency mining — or tallying cryptocurrency transactions in exchange for a small fee — has increased exponentially over the years. According to Digiconomist, Bitcoin mining...