Launch

Rocket Lab has signed a deal with Japanese satellite company Synspective to launch its first satellite, the companies announced Tuesday. Rocket plans to launch Synspective’s StriX-α Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite on an Electron launch vehicle as a dedicated mission from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. Synspective said that the launch is scheduled for...

The U.S. Space Force (USSF) has awarded Virgin Orbit subsidiary VOX Space a $35 million contract to launch three dedicated missions using its LauncherOne rocket to deliver 44 small satellites to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). The first launch could occur as early as October 2021  The launch service contract was announced April 10 and awarded by...

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems has opened a new spacecraft development, integration and test factory outside of Denver, the company announced April 9. The new, 33,000-square- foot facility in Centennial, Colorado, triples the company’s capacity for satellite production, integration, and testing for single to constellation-sized orders. “Colorado is home to the nation’s second largest space economy,...

Chinese state media Xinhua.net reported Thursday that a Long March-3B rocket mission carrying Indonesian communications satellite Palapa-N1/Nusantara Dua failed.  According to Xinhua, abnormal conditions in the third stage caused the failure, and debris from the third stage rocket and satellite fell. An investigation is underway. The rocket took off at 7:46 p.m. in Beijing from...

The third GPS III satellite launch will take place in late June at the earliest, two months later than scheduled, to minimize the potential of COVID-19 exposure to personnel, the U.S. Space Force said April 7. The service had originally scheduled the launch for late April 2020, but the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC)...

Boeing has agreed to repeat the test flight of its Starliner space capsule, a decision that sets its crewed space ambitions back by months and makes it likely SpaceX will win the race to return NASA’s astronauts to space from United States soil. The announcement comes after the initial flight late last year was marred by...

Virgin Orbit plans to build a horizontal launch site in Oita, a coastal prefecture on Japan’s Kyushu Island. The smallsat company announced April 2 it is working with regional partners ANA Holdings Inc. and the Space Port Japan Association, and the Oita Airport is its preferred pilot launch site for a mission to space as...

United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully launched the sixth Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) payload for the U.S. Space Force from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Thursday at 4:18 p.m. EST. The AEHF payload was the final satellite in the protected satellite communications constellation and the first national security mission...

Rocket Lab announced on Tuesday that it has paused preparation on its next launch in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The mission was scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand on March 30. Rocket Lab had announced on March 9 the mission will deploy payloads from NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office...

  Arianespace performed its second OneWeb launch in 2020 on Saturday, March 21, launching 34 satellites into orbit aboard a Soyuz launch vehicle. Arianespace and Starsem carried out Flight ST28 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:06 p.m. local time. OneWeb confirmed signal acquisition for all of 34 satellites on March 22. OneWeb plans for...