Launch

SpaceX launched yet another batch of 60 Starlink satellites on Wednesday morning and used a first stage booster for the fifth time, but did not successfully land that booster — marking the second Starlink launch in a row with a missed booster landing.  “Unfortunately, we did get confirmation that we were not able to land...

U.S military personnel may be largely restricted to their local areas for the next two months, but the new Space Force will continue to perform mission-critical activities such as launches, according to the service. “The [Department of Defense] DoD’s priorities are the protection of service members, their families, and the department’s civilian workforce; safeguarding and...

Intelsat has selected SpaceX as its launch partner for IS-40e, which is set to launch in 2022. The Geostationary (GEO) satellite, which will be manufactured by Maxar Technologies, is set to provide Intelsat’s government and enterprise customers across North and Central America with high-throughput services.  “We look forward to working with SpaceX to launch Intelsat...

Launch campaigns at the Guiana Space Center (CSG) in French Guiana have been suspended because of Covid-19, and the need to fully implement the measures from the French government, Arianespace announced Monday.   Arianespace was set to launch its first dedicated rideshare mission on its Vega launch vehicle, VV16, late this month. According to Spaceflight, the...

Capella Space has signed a deal with Rocket Lab to launch one of the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites in its Whitney Constellation, calling it the first-ever SAR satellite to deliver commercial data into a mid-inclination orbit.  The mission will launch mid-2020 on an Electron launch vehicle from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 on New...

Sen, a British space company working to provide real-time Ultra-High Definition (UHD) video of Earth, has signed a multi-million euro contract with NanoAvionics to build the first five nano-satellites of its constellation. The companies plan to launch the first nano-satellite, EarthTV-1, by mid-2021, with the remaining four nano-satellites built for launch in 2022.  Sen is...

Hispasat and PLD Space have agreed to work together to define the technical features and analyzing compatibility to launch services on board MIURA 5 launcher. This agreement that these companies are working to validate PLD Space as a launch services provider. The Spanish satellite operator plans to use its experience with large launchers to help...

The Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) at Utah State University announced Monday that a small satellite it built was deployed into orbit, and early telemetry indicates that the spacecraft health is nominal and the satellite is operating as designed. The SDL-built Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter CubeSat, known as HARP, was launched on Nov. 2, 2019, on a...

In the weeks since Boeing flew its astronaut capsule on an ill-fated demo flight, questions about the company’s testing procedures prior to the mission have started to emerge — putting safety at the center of a debate on the future of human spaceflight. NASA is on the verge of sending astronauts back to space from...

Exotrail has signed a contract with AAC Clyde Space, to equip its customer Eutelsat with propulsion solutions for its ELO 3 and ELO 4 spacecrafts. Exotrail plans for the contract to be delivered before the end of the year, and both satellites are planned to be launched in 2021. Exotrail, a French company that provides...