Launch

Astrocast, an Internet of Things (IoT) nanosatellite network developer, closed $9.2 million (9 million CHF) Series A round of funding from new and existing investors. The company has raised &16.9 million (16.6 million CHF) to date and will use the capital to accelerate production of IoT modules, to begin the commercial phase and deployment of...

Airbus completed the ocean satellite Copernicus Sentinel-6A, and is now sending it on its first journey. Its destination is Ottobrunn near Munich in Germany, where over the next six months the satellite will undergo an extensive series of tests at Industrieanlagen Betriebsgesellschaft mbH (IABG) to prove its readiness for space. Copernicus Sentinel-6 aims to carry out...

Scandinavian satellite company GomSpace announced Aug. 30 that it delivered the satellite bus for UnseenLabs BRO-1, launched from New Zealand by Rocket Lab earlier this month. The launch and early operations phase was successfully completed in only a few days, and the spacecraft is ready  to commence operation for UnseenLabs. BRO-1 is a 6U CubeSat designed...

SpaceX‘s Dragon capsule has become the first U.S. spacecraft to successfully complete three trips to the International Space Station (ISS). Earlier this week, the California-based launch company safely landed its Dragon capsule in the Pacific Ocean and recovered the craft with approximately 2,700 pounds of return cargo. The Dragon capsule had been docked with ISS...

Astranis, the San Francisco-based remote satellite connectivity startup, has concluded its first major launch deal as it looks to make its business plan a commercial reality and success. The company announced Aug. 26 that it had signed a deal with SpaceX to put the first of its satellites into orbit next year, as it look...

Ovzon, the Swedish company looking to bring mobile broadband services via satellite, has tapped Arianespace to launch its Ovzon-3 satellite. The satellite will have a mass at liftoff of approximately 1,500 kg. and will be placed in geostationary transfer orbit by an Ariane 5 launch vehicle in 2021 from the Guiana Space Center. The satellite was previously set to...

The Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Cartosat-3 cartography satellite, originally scheduled to launch in May 2019, will now be launched toward the end of the year in October or early November, according to a statement by ISRO Chair Dr. K. Sivan. The satellite will launch on an ISRO Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket. The satellite is the...

Russian space agency Roscosmos has filed a patent for a satellite shield system that aims to protect spacecraft from colliding with dangerous objects in space. According to the patent, which was filed this past weekend with Russia’s intellectual property bureau, Rospatent, the shield comprises two layers of aluminum plates covered in staggered conical, hard-alloy spikes. The...

The U.S. Air Force used Raytheon Company‘s GPS Next-Generation Operational Control System, known as GPS OCX, to support the launch of its second GPS III satellite into space. The ground system will now spend 10 days maneuvering the satellite into its final orbit. GPS OCX, the ground control segment of America’s GPS system, achieved the...

French space agency CNES, in a statement released to the medias aid that an agreement its president Jean-Yves Le Gall and ISRO Chairman K Sivan had signed earlier has no been made official, and that work to start development and production of a constellation of satellites will begin. India and France also discussed possibilities of...