Launch

Southwest Research Institute-led The Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission entered Phase B, which marks the transition from concept study to preliminary flight design. The mission is set to launch in early 2023 and will image the Sun’s outer corona and beyond. NASA selected SwRI in June 2019 to lead the PUNCH...

Eutelsat Communications revealed its ELO constellation project, targeting the Internet of Things (IoT) market. The ELO constellation aims offer global IoT coverage enabling objects to transmit data, regardless of their location. The constellation should contain 25 nanosatellites in the next three years, with a demo satellite being launched early next year. The construction of this nanosatellite...

U.K.-based Spacebit signed a joint agreement with Astrobotic to begin commercial and scientific lunar exploration with the first mission in 2021 on the Peregrine lunar lander. Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander will be launched on a Vulcan Centaur rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch will carry the...

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed his nation’s intention to join the United States’ Moon to Mars exploration approach, including NASA’s Artemis lunar program. The statement foresees potential Australian contributions in areas of mutual interest such as robotics, automation, and remote asset management – similar to that currently used by Australia in mining operations. As...

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is talking up his Starship Mk1 prototype super-rocket in Texas, less than a week in advance of an eagerly awaited update on his plans for Starship trips to the moon, Mars and beyond. Today’s sneak preview came in a flurry of tweets addressing some of the finer design points for Starship...

Five new remote-sensing satellites were launched on a Long March-11 rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China’s Gobi Desert on Thursday at 2:42 p.m. Beijing Time. The satellites belong to the commercial remote-sensing satellite constellation project Zhuhai-1, which is comprised of 34 micro-nano satellites, including video, hyper-spectral, and high-resolution optical satellites, as...

Rocket Lab and Virginia Space at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) completed a major construction milestone ahead of the first Electron launch from U.S. soil. The recent installation of the launch platform at Rocket Lab’s second launch site, Launch Complex 2, marks one of the final steps in the construction of the new pad being...

One of the highlights at World Satellite Business Week (WSBW) last week in Paris was the much anticipated launch providers panel, as it featured multiple players from all over the world. The panel titled “Large Launch Systems Adapting to a Changing Market Landscape” featured two previous Via Satellite Satellite Executives of the Year, SpaceX COO...

Virgin Galactic mated the fuselage and cabin of its next spaceship to the completed wing assembly. In addition, the two tail booms have been mated to the spaceship’s rear feather flap assembly. The completion of these two milestones brings assembly of the next SpaceShipTwo, planned to enter service after VSS Unity, a major step forward. With these...

HawkEye 360 awarded the manufacturing contract for its next generation of satellites the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies Space Flight Laboratory (UTIAS SFL). Enabled by HawkEye 360’s $70 million Series B financing in August, this contract aims to substantially boost on-orbit capacity to serve the company’s rapidly growing customer base. The contract will...