Launch

Optus has awarded Airbus Defence and Space a contract for a fully reconfigurable telecommunications satellite based on Airbus’ new OneSat product line. This is Airbus’ first satellite order from Optus, the leading Australian satellite operator, and the company’s fourth OneSat order. Airbus said in a Thursday release that the Optus 11 spacecraft will include an...

Relativity Space and 6K, which develops microwave plasma technology, have launched a sustainability partnership to create a closed-loop supply chain to process scrap materials.  In a Tuesday announcement, the companies explained how the supply chain will work — 6K will use itsUniMelt proprietary process Relativity scrap materials into a certified powder that Relativity can then...

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the newest GPS III satellite, Space Vehicle 03 (SV03), for the U.S. Space Force (USSF) from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex-40 in Florida on Tuesday at 4:10 p.m. EST. The payload separated at 5:40 p.m., 1 hour and 29 minutes after liftoff.  The launch marked the second time a...

Hispasat revealed on June 24 that it won a contract with Artel to embed the U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center’s Pathfinder 2 mission on its Amazonas Nexus Satellite, which is expected to be launched in mid-2022. The project is led by Artel and Hunter Communications, a satellite communication solutions provider. This is...

Virgin Galactic successfully completed its second SpaceShipTwo Unity test flight on Thursday from Spaceport America in New Mexico with pilots Mark ‘Forger’ Stucky and Michael ‘Sooch’ Masucci on board. Nicola Pecile and CJ Sturckow piloted the mission’s carrier aircraft, VMS Eve. SpaceShipTwo Unity achieved a glide speed of Mach 0.85 after being released from VMS...

Relativity Space, a Los Angeles-based space startup using 3D-printing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to build launchers, has signed a Right of Entry agreement (RoE) with the U.S. Air Force’s 30th Space Wing in the first step to eventually launch rockets from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The RoE allows the Air Force and...

Virgin Galactic signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA’s Johnson Space Center to encourage commercial participation in orbital human spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) while enabling the development of a robust economy in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). Under the agreement, Virgin Galactic will develop a new private orbital astronaut readiness program. This program will...

LeoStella reports that it has delivered the first two satellites fully manufactured from its production line. The satellites are the fifth and sixth of an ongoing Earth Observation (EO) constellation program for BlackSky.  The satellites weigh approximately 50 kg and are designed to be operated in a variety of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) altitudes and inclinations.The...

Thales Alenia Space contracted NanoAvionics to build the initial two satellite buses for Omnispace’s satellite-based Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure. NanoAvionics’ two satellite buses will host the payload which is being developed by prime contractor Thales Alenia Space, in partnership with Syrlinks. In addition to the satellite buses, NanoAvionics will provide launch support and in-orbit...

Astranis has reached a testing milestone that it said is a major step in its path to offering low-cost broadband internet service from microsatellites in Geostationary Orbit (GEO). The company announced Thursday that it successfully concluded thermal-vacuum testing of a qualification vehicle developed for its MicroGEO product line. The test validates the technology’s ability to...