Launch

Jeff Bezos, the multi-billionaire founder of Amazon, said he will spend more time with his Blue Origin launch company after he steps down as Amazon’s CEO in the 2021 third quarter. Bezos surprised attendees of Amazon’s fourth quarter 2020 results earning call on Tuesday by revealing his future plans to transition to Amazon’s board and...

SpaceX’s latest test of its Starship rocket came to an explosive ending on Tuesday. The 10 km high-altitude test of Starship Serial Number 9 (SN9) was livestreamed from Boca Chica, Texas, and lasted just under six and a half minutes. In the test, both the third and second engines were shut down at specific points...

Launch company Astra announced plans to go public on Tuesday through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Under the deal, a merger with Holicity Inc. would make Astra a publicly traded company, valued at approximately $2.1 billion. The transaction is expected to provide up to $500 million in cash proceeds.  This announcement...

Orbitare has reached a deal with Spire Global to deploy its personal satellite communication network, Spaceloop, on Spire’s nanosatellite constellation. Orbitare will send two in-orbit demonstrations of Spaceloop to orbit this year onboard Spire satellites, the company announced Monday. This partnership is an example of Spire’s Space-as-a-Service (SaaS) subscription offering.  Orbitare is working to build...

Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) is looking to broaden its business in Asia. The company announced Thursday that it had formed a new subsidiary, SSC Space Thailand, targeted at the Asian-Pacific market, with an aim to expand the company’s presence in the region. The new subsidiary will offer SSC’s services, ranging from launch services to ground...

The SiriusXM satellite built by Maxar Technologies that launched in January is under evaluation after certain payload units have failed, the company reported in a Wednesday filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  “During in-orbit testing of SXM-7, events occurred which have caused failures of certain SXM-7 payload units. An evaluation of SXM-7 is...

Apollo Fusion has been selected to provide the propulsion system for a Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation placed by York Space Systems. The order marks a string of successes for the propulsion start-up as it recently signed its first four commercial deals — with Saturn Satellite Networks’ constellation, Spaceflight’s orbital transfer vehicle Sherpa-LTE, and a...

The latest Starlink satellites launched on Jan. 24 are equipped with laser links, and all Starlink satellites launched next year will be equipped with laser inter-satellite links, Elon Musk, SpaceX chief engineer confirmed on Twitter.    “All sats launched next year will have laser links. Only our polar sats have lasers this year and are v...

On Dec. 31, the U.S. Air Force ended its Launch Services Agreements (LSAs) with Northrop Grumman and Blue Origin and paid out $787.2 million to the companies – $531.7 million to Northrop Grumman and $255.5 million to Blue Origin, the Air Force said on Jan. 22. The service said that the termination letters to the companies “are...

German rideshare provider Exolaunch was a part of SpaceX’s Transporter-1 mission on Sunday, the largest rideshare mission to date, carrying 143 satellites in total. Exolaunch brought 30 satellites along for the flight, including satellites for new and returning customers totaling 500 kilograms of capacity.  Exolaunch integrated satellites for customers including the German Aerospace Center (DLR),...