Satellite Launch Business

Space Systems Loral (SSL), a Maxar Technologies company, and a leading provider of innovative satellites and spacecraft systems, has announced that the Nusantara Satu communications satellite, built for Indonesian satellite operator PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN), is successfully performing post-launch maneuvers according to plan.

On 21 February 2019 in Paris, France, in the presence of Frédérique Vidal, the French Minister for Higher Education, Research and Innovation, the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) President Jean-Yves Le Gall and ArianeGroup CEO André-Hubert Roussel signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to create an acceleration platform dedicated to the preparation of future launchers.

Space IL has successfully launched the first private spacecraft to the Moon. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Thursday, 21 February 2019, carrying the Beresheet spacecraft. Beresheet, meaning beginning or genesis in Hebrew, will land on the lunar surface in approximately sixty days and will make Israel the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the Moon.

Egypt’s latest high-resolution Earth observation satellite, EGYPTSAT-A, was successfully launched on board a Soyuz launch vehicle with a Fregat upper stage from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan late on 21 February 2019.

By Blaine Curcio and Tianyi Lan .Many would correctly say that much of the innovation in the Western space industry over the past decade has occurred because of the private sector.

Affordable worldwide internet coverage is one step closer as of 18 February 2019, after 18 million pounds (U.S.$23.2 million) of UK Space Agency funding was awarded to OneWeb through the European Space Agency (ESA), to aid the development of its next generation satellite constellation.

Australian rocket company, Gilmour Space Technologies, has unveiled its ‘One Vision’ rocket which it plans to launch later this month, and conducted a live demonstration of its automated mobile launcher, the first of its kind in Australia.

Australia’s first commercial spaceport, Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA), has announced that it has inked a contract with U.S.-based TriSept Corporation, that offers launch integration services, rideshare and dedicated missions to small satellite customers. This agreement will see ELA provide an efficient launch and recovery location for the fast-growing commercial satellite and rocket launch market which is poised to pass U.S.$2.4 billion in 2024.

Orbex has announced that it is partnering with UK-based Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) to carry an experimental payload on its maiden flight from Scotland in 2021.

Four new O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites have arrived safely at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, in preparation for launch by a Soyuz rocket from Arianespace in late March 2019, SES has announced.