Launch

Kacific is actively planning to build its second satellite, Kacific2, the company revealed last Thursday. Plans for Kacific2 include coverage over Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, as well as expanded reach into South East Asia, further into Central and Western Asia, and potentially Eastern Africa. Like Kacific1, Kacific2 will use a spot beam...

On Oct. 19, Relativity Space revealed that it will launch Lockheed Martin’s in-orbit refueling demonstration as part of participation in the NASA Tipping Point contract. This demonstration mission is expected to launch in October 2023 on Relativity’s Terran 1 rocket. Earlier on Oct. 14, NASA revealed that 14 companies were chosen for contract awards to...

A Rocket Lab Electron vehicle lifted satellites for Planet and Canon Electronics to orbit on Wednesday. In the mission dubbed “In Focus,” Electron took off from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand at 5:21 p.m. ET. The Kick Stage successfully separated from Electron about nine minutes after liftoff. Rocket Lab confirmed payload deployment about...

LeoLabs has signed a commercial agreement with SpaceX for use of its Launch and Early Orbit service to track Starlink satellites. This service will track Starlink satellites from deployment through the first few days of new missions, and provide SpaceX orbital location and identification support. LeoLabs calls its service a first-of-its-kind commercial service that provides...

SpaceX’s latest Starlink launch on Saturday, Oct. 24 was also a milestone for its Falcon rocket. The launch marked the 100th successful flight of a Falcon rocket since Falcon 1 first flew to orbit in 2008. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellites took off at 11:31 a.m. ET from Space Launch Complex 40 at...

Airbus Ventures last week revealed that it has invested in Zero Error Systems (ZES), a Singapore-based startup debuting “smart chip” technology to protect satellites from radiation damage. The approximately $1.8 million ($2.5 million Singapore dollars) seed round will help enable the company to scale its operations, and work with international customers to deploy its products...

Lockheed Martin revealed Thursday that it will develop U.K. launch operations from Shetland Space Centre. The U.K. Space Agency confirmed that Lockheed Martin’s plans to move its U.K. Pathfinder Launch to the Shetland site at Lamba Ness on Unst would continue to deliver long-term value and help establish a sustainable, commercial launch market as part...

Kleos Space on Thursday revealed that nanosatellite company Innovative Solutions In Space B.V. (ISISpace) will provide turnkey satellite build and support for the Kleos Space – Polar Vigilance Mission (KSF1). The contract is priced at approximately $2.5 million (2.1 million euros), and the delivery of the multi-nanosatellite system is planned to take place in Second...

ABL Space Systems has completed integrated stage testing of its RS1 small satellite launch vehicle, the company announced Oct. 22. Testing was performed on the RS1 second stage with the in-house designed E2 liquid rocket engine at the Area 1-56 test site on Edwards Air Force Base in California. “Every day we are humbled by...

Launch integration and mission management service provider TriSept Corporation signed a contract with the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) unit to broker and integrate a cubesat technology demonstration mission scheduled to launch aboard a Rocket Lab Electron vehicle in the first quarter of 2021. The U.S. Army SMDC’s 3U Gunsmoke-J cubesat technology...