Launch

The European Space Agency (ESA) awarded ArianeGroup a $40 million (33 million euros) contract this month for the initial stages of development on a reusable rocket first stage prototype called Themis.  ArianeGroup has agreed to prepare flight vehicle technologies, the test bench and perform static firing demonstrations in Vernon, France. The contract also includes preparing...

Arsat has signed an agreement with Telesat to support its transfer orbit support services, and it’s Benavidez Ground Station successfully supported Telesat’s work in the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) of the Japanese satellite launched on Nov. 29. The Argentine satellite operator announced in December that it was contracted by Telesat to integrate its...

SpaceX successfully launched the NROL-108 mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). On Saturday, Dec. 19, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at 9:00 a.m. ET from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, marking SpaceX’s 26th and final mission of 2020. This is SpaceX’s second launch with the NRO, as the...

Lockheed Martin’s surprise announcement Sunday that it has agreed to acquire propulsion systems developer and manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne in a $4.4 billion deal, will lead to better integrated end products and improved manufacturing, James Taiclet, the company’s president and CEO said on Monday. Aerojet Rocketdyne is a supplier of rocket and tactical motors to Lockheed...

A successful launch capped off a challenging and eventful year for OneWeb, in which the company went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and emerged under new ownership. Arianespace and its Starsem affiliate launched 36 OneWeb satellites on a Soyuz 2-1b rocket from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome on Friday, Dec. 18 at 12:26 GMT.  The satellites were deployed...

HawkEye 360 is supporting a commercial Radio Frequency (RF) Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) pilot program for the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), the company revealed Wednesday. HawkEye 360 will use its satellite constellation to deliver RF data and analytics to the agency, as well as combatant commands, so analysts can explore how this new source of...

Blue Origin is now able to compete to launch future NASA missions on its New Glenn rocket in development. On Thursday, the agency announced that it has awarded Blue Origin a NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract.  The NLS II is a contract vehicle under which NASA places orders from commercial providers for launch services...

Arianespace revealed Wednesday that it will launch Eutelsat 10B, Eutelsat’s next generation telecommunications High-Throughput Satellite (HTS). The satellite is scheduled to launch from the Guiana Space Center in 2022 on an Ariane 5 rocket. The Eutelsat 10B satellite will cover areas across the Americas and Asia. Thales Alenia Space is building Eutelsat 10B based on...

Synspective has confirmed its first satellite reached its target orbit of Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) after launch on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket on Tuesday. The dedicated Electron mission, dubbed the “Owls Night Begins,” took off from Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand at 10:09 a.m. UTC carrying Synspective’s satellite, StriX-α. The...

Momentus has a contract for its second customer on its hosted payload service, and will host a payload from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), called SSPD-1 at the end of next year. SSPD-1, which will demonstrate a wireless power transmission and a new deployable structure, is set to launch on Momentus’ Vigoride orbital transfer...