Launch

After a number of launch delays due to weather and technical malfunctions, United Launch Alliance (ULA) orbited a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in the early hours of Oct. 15. Designated NROL 52, the mission is in support of national security, and as such NRO declined to release further details about the payload....

According to the 20th edition of Euroconsult’s “Satellites to be Built & Launched” report, the firm anticipates that 300 satellites with a mass of more than 50 kg will be launched on average each year by 2026 for government agencies and commercial organizations worldwide. This is a threefold increase over the past decade as the...

Ushering in a new era of advanced GPS technology, the U.S. Air Force declared the first Lockheed Martin-built GPS 3 satellite, GPS 3 SV01, “available for launch” on Oct. 10. The Air Force’s declaration is the final acceptance of GPS 3 SV01 prior to its expected 2018 launch. According to the Air Force, GPS 3...

Bentley Walker has launched a live Digital Video Broadcasting-Satellite-Second Generation Extension (DVB-S2X) satellite service leveraging iDirect’s iQ Desktop and iDX 4.0 software. Bentley Walker will deploy the new service in the Middle East with capacity from Avanti’s Hylas 2 Ka-band satellite. The DVB-S2X-based service will target a range of end users including consumer markets, small-to-medium...

SpaceX successfully delivered 10 additional Iridium Next satellites to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) approximately one hour after its Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Oct. 9. With two successful launches already completed this year, this third batch of 10 satellites brings the total number of Iridium Next satellites...

United Launch Alliance (ULA) scrubbed its third attempt to launch a spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) early Saturday morning after weather troubles delayed the first two scheduled launches. The company cited a malfunction of a telemetry transmitter on the rocket during the countdown. It has not yet announced a new launch date...

Pakistan has publicly announced its plans to launch the country’s first ever optical remote sensing satellite, PRSS 1. On Oct. 5, the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) stated the satellite will fly into orbit sometime next year. Pakistan recently lofted its own communications satellite, Paksat 1 R, which is currently providing communication...

In 1955, the Soviet government made public its plans to launch the first ever satellite to take photos of the Earth’s surface from space. Two years later on Oct. 4, 1957, the Simplest Satellite, as it was called (or Sputnik 1), launched into orbit and proved that space was not an inaccessible frontier for mankind....

The NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has awarded Spaceflight its first contract for launch and integration services. The multi-year contract covers launch services in 2018 for a maximum of 24 U-Class payloads, with options to provide launch services for up to 24 additional payloads in 2019 and 2020. The potential total contract value is more...

World View, which plans to offer services such as Earth Observation (EO) from the stratosphere using high altitude balloons, has successfully completed its first Stratollite launch from its Tuscon, Arizona headquarters. According to the Arizona Daily Star, The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently granted the company a certificate of authorization to launch from Spaceport Tuscon,...