Launch

NASA has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract to provide solid propulsion systems and controls for the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) that will be launched in 2026. The cost-plus, fixed-fee contract has a potential mission services value of $60.2 million and a maximum potential value of $84.5 million. NASA announced the award on March 4.  The...

Astra has won a $7.95 million launch contract with NASA to launch a constellation of six cubesats for storm research over three launches. NASA announced the firm fixed-price contract on Feb. 26.  Called TROPICS — the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation Structure and Storm Intensity with a Constellation of SmallSats mission — is set to launch...

SpaceX successfully launched another 60 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center early Thursday. This is the 20th batch of satellites that SpaceX has put into orbit since the project began and the 5th successful launch since the beginning of the year. This particular mission, designated “Starlink L17,” was supposed...

Space Machines Company, an Australian in-space transportation provider, has signed a deal with Fireball International to deploy its bushfire detection satellite into its final orbit on board Space Machines Company’s orbital transport, Optimus-1, in 2022. The company announced the deal on Tuesday. This is Space Machines’ first customer agreement. This agreement aims to strengthen Australia’s...

Launcher Rocket Lab plans to go public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to finance development of reusable launch vehicle with an 8-ton payload capacity, called Neutron.  Rocket Lab on Monday announced its plans to go public through a merger with Vector Acquisition Corporation, in a deal that will value the company $4.1 billion....

Orbex has commissioned AMCM [Additive Manufacturing Customized Machines] to build what it says will be the largest industrial 3D printer in Europe to print rocket engines. The specific monetary value of the contract was not disclosed, but Orbex described it as a multi-million pound deal in a Feb. 24 announcement. The deal follows after a...

Washington state-based launch company, Stoke Space Technologies, has raised $9.1 million in seed investments to develop a completely reusable rocket that the company claims will offer launch services 20 times cheaper than offerings today. The round was co-led by NFX and MaC Ventures, with participation from Y Combinator, Seven Seven Six, Liquid2, Trevor Blackwell, Kyle...

Washington-based launch company Blue Origin has pushed the debut launch of its New Glenn rocket back to the fourth quarter of 2022. The company said the decision was made after the U.S. Space Force passed over the New Glenn and picked ULA and SpaceX‘s rockets for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 2 Launch...

Hughes Network Systems has pushed back the launch of its Jupiter 3 satellite to the second half of 2022. The company announced the schedule change in the Fourth Quarter (Q4) financial results of parent company EchoStar Corporation on Tuesday.  “This delay is due in part to the COVID-19 restrictions that every company is facing, and...

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus resupply spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS) early Monday morning. The Cygnus cargo spacecraft was berthed to the ISS Unity module at 7:16 a.m. ET on Feb. 22.  The spacecraft reached the ISS after it was launched on Saturday, Feb. 20, on an Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops...