Launch

SpaceX launched 116 payloads to orbit on Friday in the 11th Transporter dedicated smallsat rideshare mission.  A Falcon 9 rocket launched the mission on Aug. 16 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, lifting off at 11:56 a.m. PT. The mission was set to last 2 hours and 36 minutes to deploy all payloads.  For...

The second batch of Maxar Intelligence WorldView Legion satellites are now in the commissioning phase after a SpaceX launch on Thursday morning.  SpaceX launched the two satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket early on Aug. 15 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Maxar confirmed after launch that the satellites are successfully communicating with...

The Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM) launched on Aug. 11 will expand connectivity and boost international collaboration in the increasingly strategic Arctic region.  The two satellites built by Northrop Grumman and launched by SpaceX, are the result of a unique partnership both domestic and international, and commercial and government in nature. ASBM is led by...

Japanese rocket launcher in development Interstellar Technologies raised 3.1 billion yen ($21 million) in a Series E funding round announced Aug. 5.  New investors SBI GROUP and NTT DOCOMO invested in the round, alongside financing from Resona Bank. This brings Interstellar’s total funding to 17 billion yen ($120 million). The company said it plans to...

L3Harris Technologies signed a new launch agreement with Firefly Aerospace for up to 20 launches on Firefly’s Alpha rocket. The deal announced Wednesday includes two to four missions per year from 2027 to 2031. This is in addition to a three-launch deal with L3Harris announced in September 2023.  The missions will launch L3Harris spacecraft into...

Rocket Lab is working with Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) for a new global ground station service for Rocket Lab’s launch customers.  KSAT is currently the sole provider of ground station services for Rocket Lab’s missions. In advance of the first launch of Rocket Lab’s next rocket Neutron and missions for Varda Space Industries that will...

The U.S. Space Force (USSF)’s Space Systems Command (SSC) awarded rideshare integrator SEOPS a contract to integrate six payloads on the upcoming Rideshare 2024-Blaze mission.  For the Blaze mission, SEOPS will provide comprehensive mission management, integration services as well as deployment systems for the six payloads supporting technology demonstrations. This includes one evolved secondary payload...

United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched the USSF-51 national security mission for the U.S. Space Force on Tuesday — marking the final national security mission on an Atlas V rocket as ULA transitions to the Vulcan rocket.  The Atlas V rocket first launched in March of 2007 and has launched 53 National Security Space (NSS) missions....

Global launch services company Rocket Lab USA confirmed Monday that it completed integration and testing of two spacecraft it built for The University of California Berkeley’s Space Science Laboratory and NASA. The “Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE)” mission spacecraft will be shipped to Cape Canaveral in August, where they will be integrated...

Scottish rocket manufacturer Orbex is opening a new office in London as it looks to tap into London’s financial communities. It hopes the move will also grow the U.K.’s reputation as a hub for the European space sector. Orbex announced the establishment of the new office on July 22. In tandem with this, Orbex is...