Launch

NASA selected SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to launch the COSI Compton Spectrometer and Imager mission. NASA announced the $69 million firm-fixed-price contract on July 2. The COSI mission is currently targeted to launch in August 2027 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. COSI is a wide-field gamma-ray telescope designed to study energetic phenomena in the...

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the ALOS-4 Earth observation satellite aboard the H3 rocket on Monday. JAXA confirmed post-launch that the mission was successful.  The H3 mission took off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 12:06 p.m. JST on July 1. The satellite separated from the launch vehicle approximately 16 minutes and 34...

Amazon is pushing back the first full launch for its Project Kuiper constellation to the fourth quarter of 2024, the company announced Thursday. Amazon previously said it would start launching the constellation in the first half of this year and to start customer pilots this year as well.  Amazon said the timeline of customer pilots...

The GOES-U weather satellite for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is on its way to its final orbital position after a Tuesday SpaceX launch on a Falcon Heavy rocket. This satellite will provide data for weather forecasting, severe storm tracking, and climate monitoring.  SpaceX launched the satellite on a Falcon Heavy rocket on...

Northrop Grumman delivered the two satellites in Space Norway‘s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM), the company announced June 21. The satellites are scheduled for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as early as mid-July. The mission brings together an interesting coalition of partners between domestic and international,...

SpaceX successfully launched the Astra 1P broadcast satellite for SES on June 20, SES confirmed after the launch. The satellite, built by Thales Alenia Space, will continue SES’s TV neighborhood over Europe at 19.2 degrees East.  SpaceX launched the satellite on a Falcon 9 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:35 p.m. on...

German launcher in development Isar Aerospace raised a more than 65 million euro ($69 million) extension to its Series C funding round, with backing from the NATO Innovation Fund.  This follows after Isar closed a $165 million Series C round in March 2023. Isar Aerospace has now raised more than 400 million euros ($428 million)....

Rocket Lab reached the milestone of 50 Electron launches on Thursday with a mission for French IoT startup Kinéis. The launcher reached 50 Electron launches seven years after the first flight, which Rocket Lab notes is faster than any other commercially developed rocket in history, even the Falcon 9.   The mission, named ‘No Time...

Japanese radar company Synspective signed a 10-launch deal with Rocket Lab, the largest Electron launch contract to date. The launches will take place from New Zealand across 2025 to 2027. Rocket Lab has been Synspective’s sole launch provider and has launched four, single-satellite missions for the company since 2020, with the most recent launch in...

Under an umbrella worth up to $5.6 billion over the next five years for at least 30 launches, U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command on June 13 made its first National Security Space Launch (NSSL), Phase 3, Lane 1 awards to Blue Origin, SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance (ULA). This is the first time Blue Origin is...