Launch

Launch and space systems company Rocket Lab established a Responsive Space Program on Thursday that will open a direct line of communication with satellite operators to understand their mission requirements and then develop customized responsive mission plans that could be executed within a day of a satellite arriving at a launch site. The program, which...

Both Virgin Orbit and United Launch Alliance executed successful launches during the holiday weekend serving U.S. Department of Defense customers.  Virgin Orbit’s fourth mission, Straight Up, carried seven satellites to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) for the U.S. Space Force (USSF) late Friday in California. The launch was through the Rocket Systems Launch Program, with payloads provided...

United Kingdom space startup Space Forge is partnering with space situational awareness (SSA) company Lumi Space on the upcoming Virgin Orbit launch from the U.K. later this year.  Space Forge, based in Cardiff, Wales, is working to build a returnable and reusable satellite platform. This mission will launch Space Forge’s ForgeStar-0 platform to test its...

OneWeb signed a launch contract with Relativity Space to launch satellites in its Gen 2 network on the new Terran R rocket. The deal, announced Thursday, marks a win for Relativity Space before the first flight of its Terran 1 vehicle.  Relativity Space said launches will start in 2025. Financial terms of the agreement were...

SpaceX launched SES’s first C-band satellite on Wednesday in the FCC’s initiative to clear C-band spectrum. A Falcon 9 rocket launched the satellite from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 5:04 p.m. local time. SES confirmed the launch was successful.  This is the first new C-band satellite for...

Space logistics company D-Orbit will deploy two satellites for Kepler Communications as part of an agreement announced Thursday.  The contract covers the launch of two 6U telecommunications satellites on D-Orbit’s orbital transfer vehicle, the ION Satellite Carrier. After launch, which is scheduled for the first quarter of 2023, the ION will release the satellite on...

Virgin Orbit is looking at a September timeframe for its first mission from the United Kingdom, CEO Dan Hart said in a pre-launch press briefing ahead of its Wednesday launch from the U.S.  The historic mission will be the first rocket launch from British soil and the first commercial launch from Western Europe. It will...

Rocket Lab launched the CAPSTONE mission for NASA early Tuesday morning, sending the spacecraft on a journey to a unique lunar orbit.  CAPSTONE — Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment — is part of NASA’s Artemis program to return humans to the Moon. The spacecraft is heading toward the orbit intended for the future...

Virgin Orbit is now licensed to launch from Brazil through its new subsidiary, Virgin Orbit Brasil Ltda, and could potentially conduct the first domestic orbital launch from Brazil as early as next year.  This is a step toward domestic launch capability in Brazil after last year, the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) and Brazilian Air Force...

Arianespace orbited two Geostationary (GEO) telecommunication satellites on Wednesday evening, for Malaysian operator Measat and the Indian government. The mission launched MEASAT-3d, built by Airbus Defence and Space for Measat, GSAT-24, built for NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).  The Ariane 5 launch took off from the Guiana Space Center on...