Launch

This year is set to be a big one for satellite launches, as a number of major satellite operators launch satellites that mark the culmination of years-long business plans and investments.  In this round-up, Via Satellite previews the top satellite launches we’ll be watching and covering in 2022.  SES — O3b mPOWER  SES is planning...

OneWeb closed out 2021 with its 12th satellite launch on Monday, Dec. 27. Arianespace and its Starsem affiliate launched 36 satellites for OneWeb on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:10 p.m. local time, and 8:10 a.m. EST.  The flight lasted three hours and 45 minutes and included nine separations to...

After spending 25 years in development, NASA and its partner organizations — the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) — finally sent the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) into space on Saturday. The telescope, which will succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA’s flagship astrophysics mission, rode to orbit on Arianespace‘s...

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) launched the first of two satellites in Inmarsat’s Inmarsat-6 fleet (I-6 F1) on Wednesday. This satellite marks the start of a refresh of Inmarsat’s L-band network.  The H-IIA launch vehicle took off from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the JAXA Tanegashima Space Center in Japan at 2:33 p.m. GMT. Inmarsat confirmed...

SpaceX capped off 2021 with a Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station early Tuesday morning. This marked SpaceX’s final launch of 2021 — a year in which the launcher set a new record for 31 launches of the Falcon 9 rocket in one year.   The Falcon 9 rocket took off from Launch Complex...

Benchmark Space Systems has integrated its non-toxic chemical propulsion system with Spaceflight’s orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) ahead of the SpaceX Transporter 3 rideshare mission.  Spaceflight is the first to use Benchmark’s Halcyon Avant green bipropellant system, and the Sherpa space tug for this mission is the first-ever Sherpa-LTC. Spaceflight signed Benchmark on to provide chemical...

Astrocast will use Isar Aerospace’s launch vehicle to launch a satellite as part of its global nanosatellite IoT network, the companies announced Dec. 15. By the beginning of 2024, Isar Aerospace will launch Astrocast’s satellite on a rideshare mission to Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) from its launch site in Andøya, Norway. The contract also includes options...

Major space launchers previewed how their businesses will change as new launch vehicles come available in 2022 during Euroconsult’s World Satellite Business Week event on Monday.  SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero was bullish that Starship will have its first orbital flight by early 2022, in January or February. With Falcon 9 being...

As California-based Rocket Lab looks to provide its Neutron rocket for future U.S. Space Force launches, the company on Dec. 13 took a step toward alternative power sources when the company said it plans to buy for $80 million New Mexico-based SolAero, a marquee supplier of space solar power products. Rocket Lab said it expects to seal...

The German Space Agency at DLR and Isar Aerospace selected seven payloads from five institutions in Germany, Norway, and Slovenia to ride on the late 2022 maiden flight of Isar’s Spectrum rocket. The selected payloads were from: Germany’s DLR Responsive Space Competence Center; The Technical University and Institute of Aerospace Engineering in Berlin; The Center...