Launch

Viasat revealed Tuesday that its phased array flat panel antenna, which was selected by SES for the O3b mPower satcom system in 2018, has entered the Test Readiness Review (TRR) stage. TRR is the final stage of testing to verify compliance with the antenna’s performance requirements. Viasat expects the first phased array prototype to be...

The SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience successfully docked with the International Space Station late Monday night, and NASA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronauts have entered the ISS.  The docking took place at 11:01 p.m. ET on Monday, Nov. 17, transporting NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi. The...

Arianespace provided an update on Tuesday after initial investigations into the Nov. 16 Vega launch failure, reporting a cable inversion problem related to the integration of the fourth-stage AVUM nozzle activation system that likely caused the loss of control of the launcher. Arianespace CTO Roland Lagier said Tuesday in a call with reporters that it...

The Arianespace Vega mission VV17 on Monday night failed. The Vega rocket took off from the Guiana Space Center (GSC) in French Guiana on Monday at 8:52 p.m. ET. But eight minutes after liftoff, “following the first ignition of the engine of the Avum upper stage, a deviation of trajectory was identified, entailing the loss of...

United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on Nov. 13 on an Atlas V launch vehicle. The ULA Atlas V 531 launched the NROL-101 mission from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on Friday at 5:32 p.m. ET. The launch was delayed several times. ...

Exolaunch signed a launch agreement with Omnispace to deliver two satellites into orbit, the companies revealed Nov. 10. Exolaunch will provide launch, mission management, integration, and deployment services for these 2 Omnispace satellites, which are being built by Thales Alenia Space. Satellites will be delivered as part of SpaceX rideshare missions, with launch targeted for...

Kleos Space raised an additional $13.8 million (11.7 million euros) in funding, the company revealed last Wednesday. The money was raised from existing and new investors, and the round was managed by Bell Potter Securities and Evolution Capital Advisors. This news follows the launch of the Kleos Scouting Mission (KSM1) satellites aboard India’s Polar Satellite...

Northrop Grumman revealed Wednesday that the company was awarded a follow-on contract under the Commercial Resupply Services contract-2 (CRS-2), which includes two additional NASA missions. Northrop Grumman will deliver a combined total of approximately 16,500 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) during these missions, and the launches will take place in 2023....

Spaceflight is rolling out its next-generation orbital transfer vehicles called the Sherpa series — a “last mile” delivery service for smallsats on rideshare missions. The first Sherpa-FX will carry 14 spacecraft on SpaceX’s SXRS-3 mission set for December.  The basic model, a hexagonal Sherpa-FX, has multiple ports that multiple smallsats can attach to. In action,...

While launch executives from Arianespace, Blue Origin, International Launch Services (ILS), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MIH), SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA) differ on their views of how many Geostationary (GEO) satellites will be launched in the next few years, all agree that dedicated smallsat launchers face an increasingly tough market and that not all will...