Launch

Australian launch company Southern Launch recently completed two back-to-back suborbital launches, marking Australia’s first commercial launches, a milestone that brings Australia closer to having access to space. On Sept. 19, Southern Launch launched a DART rocket from the Koonibba Test Range northwest of Ceduna in South Australia at 10:09 a.m. local time. Less than two...

A Russian Space Agency Roscosmos Soyuz-2-1b rocket lifted three Russian communications satellites and 19 secondary payloads to orbit from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region at 7:20 a.m. EDT on Monday, 2:20 p.m. Moscow Time. Roscosmos tweeted after the launch that all spacecraft were launched into target orbits. Three Gonets-M communication satellites were the...

The U.S. Space Force has reached a contract with SpaceX to reuse Falcon 9 boosters for upcoming Global Positioning System (GPS)-III launches, a first of its kind for National Security Space Launch (NSSL) missions.  SpaceX is preparing to launch the fourth GPS III vehicle on Tuesday, Sept. 29. This will mark the third time a...

Eutelsat Communications revealed on Thursday that it has formed a long-term agreement with Ovzon AB for the provision of satellite control services. Under the agreement, Eutelsat will control Ovzon-3 over its full operational life. Ovzon-3 is the first satellite procured by Ovzon, and is being built by Maxar. Ovzon has operated capacity on a number...

Momentus signed two new launch service agreements with Pixxel and GP Advanced Projects. Momentus will deliver Pixxel’s second smallsat to Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) orbit in December 2021 onboard a SpaceX Falcon-9 launch. Additionally, GP Advanced Projects’ FEES2 Picosatellite will fly on Vigoride’s second demo mission in April 2021. Pixxel is building a constellation of earth...

OneWeb is set to resume launches with Arianespace in December to build out its Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite internet constellation. The satellite operator announced Monday that Arianespace will provide 16 more launches, each placing another 34 to 36 satellites into OneWeb’s constellation.  This update comes as OneWeb is in the midst of a restructuring deal...

Rocket Lab has completed its final dress rehearsal from Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops Island, Virginia. The smallsat launcher is now ready for its first launch from U.S. soil, a dedicated launch for the U.S. Space Force. Rocket Lab said that operating two launch complexes will create 130 launch...

Intelsat has selected Maxar Technologies to build the final satellite for its C-band transition, and has contracted with SpaceX and Arianespace to launch its new C-band satellites. The Thursday announcement marked Intelsat finalized its required contracts with satellite manufacturers and launch-vehicle providers to move forward and meet the accelerated C-band spectrum clearing timelines established by...

The Scouting Mission for Luxembourg-based data-as-a-service company Kleos Space is set to launch on the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) PSLV-C49 Mission, targeted for early November. The PSLV-C49 Mission will take off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), at the Sriharikota Range (SHAR) in Andhra Pradesh in India.   Kleos’ said in a Sept. 11 release...

Astra made its first orbital launch attempt on Sept. 12, and Rocket 3.1 failed to make it to orbit. Astra said it appears that that early in the flight, the guidance system introduced some slight oscillation into the flight, which caused the vehicle to drift from its planned trajectory and led to a commanded shutdown...