Launch

ULA is now able to compete to launch future NASA missions on its Vulcan Centaur rocket, which is currently in development. On April 15, NASA announced that it had awarded ULA a Launch Services (NLS) II contract.  The NLS II is a contract vehicle under which NASA places orders from commercial providers for launch services...

Blue Origin conducted a successful launch of its New Shepard rocket and crew capsule on Wednesday, as a verification step for the vehicle and operations before it will fly astronauts. Before liftoff, Blue Origin personnel stood in for astronauts and entered the crew capsule. They demonstrated climbing the launch tower, buckling into the seats and...

Rideshare launch services provider Exolaunch has rolled out a new “space tug” program that will use orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs) to both send satellites to custom orbits and install modular payloads. The company said that testing and flight qualification on the new service will begin in 2022 on SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare missions. Exolaunch’s new...

Rocket Lab will take another big step to launch vehicle reusability next month, when it makes its second attempt to recover an Electron rocket. The mission, dubbed ‘Running Out of Toes,’ involves an Electron launch from Rocket Lab’s Complex 1 in New Zealand, the deployment of two Earth Observation satellites for BlackSky, re-entrance into Earth’s...

Some of the most important and disruptive changes that the wave of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations will bring to the satellite business will be on the ground, rather than in orbit, experts said at the LEO Digital Forum on Wednesday. “To light up all the [FCC-approved Non-Geostationary Orbit] satellites … you will need a lot...

Lockheed Martin has purchased a block of launches on ABL Space Systems RS1 rocket of up to 26 vehicles through 2025, and up to 32 additional launches through 2029. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in the April 5 announcement.  ABL Space Systems, based in El Segundo, California, just closed a $170 million...

Telespazio Germany has won a new European Space Agency (ESA) contract, the company announced March 31. It will provide the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) preparation and operations engineering services for ESA’s Biomass and FLEX missions. The contract runs until at least the end of 2024. Earth Observation missions Biomass (Earth Explorer 7) and FLEX...

Airbus has signed another order for OneSat, its fully digital, in-orbit reconfigurable satellite product line. Sky Perfect JSAT has ordered Superbird-9 from Airbus, targeted to launch in 2024, the companies announced Thursday. JSAT estimates the total investment including this contract is around $275 million (30 billion yen).  This deal marks the first time a Japanese...

OneWeb’s latest satellite launch early Thursday morning brings the Low-Earth Orbit constellation to 146 satellites. An Arianespace Soyuz rocket took off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia on 25 March at 02:47 GMT. OneWeb’s satellites were dispensed in nine batches in about four hours. Signal acquisition on all 36 satellites was confirmed after the launch. ...

U.K. space companies Orbital Launch Express (Orbex) and Skyrora signed new commercial small satellite launch contracts with the European Space Agency (ESA) through its Boost! commercial space transportation services program. ESA awarded 7.45 million euros ($8.8 million) to Orbex, and 3 million euros ($3.5 million) to Skyrora. Both companies will begin launch services for ESA...