Launch

AST SpaceMobile will launch the prototype satellite BlueWalker 3 for its space-to-cell network on a SpaceX rocket in March 2022. The company announced the launch agreement on July 29.  Describing its BlueWalker 3 test satellite, AST SpaceMobile said it has an aperture of 693 square feet and is designed to communicate directly with cell phones...

Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle has returned to flight after a May launch failure with a mission for the U.S. Space Force.  The mission launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula at 18:00 NZT on July 29. The Electron rocket deployed an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)-sponsored demonstration satellite called...

The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded Avio a contract to develop a new version of the Vega launch vehicle, Vega-E. The contract, announced July 23, is worth 118.8 million euros ($140 million). ESA did not announce when the rocket variation would be ready for flight.  Vega is Europe’s light launcher that operates from Europe’s...

The global shutdown in 2020 had impacts across the satellite and space sector, but there were no uniform effects and there is no industry-wide blueprint for getting back on track, as customer operations and supply chains try to return activities to pre-pandemic levels. Carissa Christensen, CEO of analytics firm BryceTech says launch providers did not...

Blue Origin successfully launched its founder, Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, aerospace pioneer Wally Funk and Dutch teenager Oliver Daemen into space at 9:13 a.m. EDT Tuesday morning on its New Shepard rocket. Blue Origin also recovered the rocket’s reusable booster. The entire mission lasted 10 minutes and 20 seconds from launch to capsule touchdown....

Blue Origin and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos isn’t nervous about his historic, multi-generational ride on his reusable suborbital New Shepard rocket’s first crewed mission, scheduled for 9 a.m. EDT tomorrow, July 20th. Following a successful launch by Virgin Galactic two weeks ago in a closely-watched race to space between two privately owned launch companies, Bezos...

The European Space Agency (ESA) is investing approximately 90 million euros ($106 million) into a developmental contract with ArianeGroup that will give its Ariane 6 rocket a new kick stage. The kick stage, called ‘Astris,’ will allow Ariane 6 to perform complex orbital transfers in multiple orbits, including Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), and support deep space...

A record number of satellites were launched into orbit in 2020, according to the Satellite Industry Association’s (SIA) State of the Satellite Industry Report. By the end of 2020, there were 3,371 satellites orbiting Earth, an increase of 37% from 2019. The commercial satellite industry dominates the $371 billion global space economy, making up $271...

Nearly two decades after founding Virgin Galactic, Sir Richard Branson has made it to space, in a flight that could signify the start of space tourism. Brason was along for the ride when SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity reached space on July 11 in a pre-commercial, test flight.  This was Virgin Galactic’s fourth crewed spaceflight, but its...

Rockets, classic rock, and taking a ride into space. These are all topics on the agenda as we talk to Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart, as part of our Thursday Morning Conversation (TMC) series with the CEOs of the 10 Hottest Companies in Satellite. It has been an incredible few months for Virgin Orbit. With...