Launch

German launcher in development Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) has signed a deal for its first mission late this year to lift off from the SaxaVord Spaceport on Scotland’s Shetland island. RFA will have exclusive access to Launch Pad Fredo for orbital launches, the companies announced Jan. 11.  SaxaVord Spaceport is a commercial spaceport located at...

Spaceflight has signed a deal with Canada’s Maritime Launch Services to launch up to five of its Sherpa orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs) from missions from its Nova Scotia spaceport beginning in 2025.  Maritime Launch is developing a Spaceport Nova Scotia, a spaceport near Canso in Nova Scotia. The company will operate the launch Cyclone-4M medium-class...

After announcing that its rocket reached orbit on a historic first mission from the United Kingdom late Monday, Virgin Orbit changed course and said there was an anomaly that prevented the rocket from reaching orbit.  “We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit. We are evaluating the information,” Virgin Orbit...

The first major launch from U.K. soil could take place as early as next week. Virgin Orbit, the UK Space Agency (UKSA), Cornwall Council and the Royal Air Force announced Jan. 6 that the initial window for the ‘Start Me Up’ mission will officially open on Monday, Jan. 9 at 22:16 UTC with additional back-up...

SpaceX kicked off 2023 with a rideshare mission on Tuesday morning, launching 114 spacecraft to orbit. The mission — Transporter 6 — was the sixth in SpaceX’s series of dedicated rideshare missions for smallsat customers.  A Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 9:56 a.m. ET. The mission...

Sidus Space started 2023 with the announcement of a new contract from Bechtel Corporation to manufacture cables for the NASA Mobile Launcher 2 project. Sidus announced the contract award, Jan. 3. Mobile Launcher 2 (ML2) is the ground platform structure that will launch Space Launch System (SLS) Block 1B and Block 2 configurations to the Moon,...

A number of anticipated satellites launched to orbit in 2022, but supply chain and labor headwinds kept other key programs grounded. Here is a round-up of the top launches of satellites and rockets the Via Satellite team will be watching and covering in 2023.  Spoiler alert, the list is a bit similar to last year’s....

The United Kingdom issued Virgin Orbit the nation’s first orbital launch license, clearing the way for the first orbital launch from the UK. Virgin Orbit announced Dec. 22 that the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has issued launch and range control licenses for the “Start Me Up” mission from Spaceport Cornwall.  These licenses demonstrate that...

Arianespace’s Vega C launch on Tuesday night failed, losing two Pléiades Neo satellites for customer Airbus. This was just the second launch for Vega C, Europe’s new light-lift rocket.  Arianespace CTO Pierre-Yves Tissier described the Dec. 20 mission, Flight VV22, from French Guiana in a Wednesday press conference. The first stage ignited nominally, and stage...

Rocket Lab had to push its first mission from U.S. soil to 2023 after weather issues and regulatory delays, causing millions in revenue to slip from 2022 to 2023.  For years, the launcher has been awaiting this launch at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. There have been...