Satellite Launch Business

Following the measures presented by the French government on 28 April 2020 as part of the gradual resumption of activity planned from 11 May, and the announcement of a restart of operational activities at the Guiana Space Center, Arianespace confirms its following launch objectives: Flight VV16/SSMS – The first “rideshare” …

Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), announced on 27 April 2020 the signing of a contract with AVIO S.p.A., industrial prime contractor of the VEGA launch vehicle, in the frame of LEAP program of the European Space Agency (ESA), concerning the initial phases of …

The Dorado, named after the swordfish constellation, will be Equatorial Space’s second rocket after the Low Altitude Demonstrator, pending launch due to the COVID-19 work and travel restrictions. The Dorado rocket will be the very first commercial sounding rocket capable of exceeding the Karman Line, the conventional boundary of space, …

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has unveiled the existence of its own Space Command following the successful launch of the Noor-1 Earth observation satellite on 22 April 2020 (reported by SpaceWatch.Global here). After the launch of Noor-1 IRGC commanders appeared in Iranian media extolling their achievements and speaking about …

Firefly Aerospace, Inc., a leading provider of economical and dependable launch vehicles, spacecraft, and in-space services, and Spaceflight Inc., the leading launch services and mission management provider, announced on 22 April 2020 that they have signed a Launch Services Agreement (LSA). The agreement confirms that Spaceflight will secure the majority …

SpaceX launched its seventh batch of 60 Starlink communications satellites on board one of its Falcon 9 satellite launch vehicles on 22 April 2020. The launch took place at 3:30pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, United States. The launch vehicle successfully released …

This week’s Space Café WebTalk took place on 21 April 2020, featuring Dr. Brian Weeden, Director of Program Planning for Secure World Foundation in conversation with Torsten Kriening, co-publisher of SpaceWatch.Global and COO of ThorGroup GmbH. Dr. Brian Weeden gave a briefing about key elements from the newly released 2020 Global …

Magellan Aerospace Corporation announced on 16 April 2020 that it would provide Black Brant sounding rocket motors to The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. or “DLR”) estimated to generate revenue of up to US$9.4 million over the term of the agreement. The DLR is the …

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that it had launched a military satellite on the morning (Iranian time) of 22 April 2020 on board a previously unknown satellite launch vehicle the IRGC calls Qassed. The military satellite, called Noor (also spelled ‘Nur’ and ‘Nour’ – Farsi for ‘Light’), could …

Singapore’s Equatorial Space announced on 17 April 2020 that it has signed a letter of intent to work with Scottish launch aggregator Responsive Access, on finding customers for launches of its small satellite launch vehicle. The company’s fully hybrid launch vehicle, Volans, is being designed to carry up to 200kg …