Satellite Launch Business

U.S.-based New Space launch provider Firefly has announced that it has signed a Launch Services Agreement (LSA) with the UK small satellite manufacturer Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) to launch six satellites between 2020 and 2022.

SES announced that it has successfully launched SES-12 to serve the Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions, increasing the capacity to provide connectivity for mobile, video, fixed data and government customers.

India has solidified its space cooperation relationships in Southeast Asia, and called for rules-based order throughout the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) – to include space – during visits to Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this past week.

Gilmour Space Technologies, the Australian and Singaporean New Space commercial launch company, conducted its second static test-firing of its proprietary hybrid rocket engine on 28 May 2018, the company announced.

Japanese New Space startup, PD Aerospace, has successfully raised U.S.$4.78 million in funding from five investors that include ANA Holdings, parent company of Japanese airline All Nippon Airlines (ANA), and H.I.S., one of Japan's largest travel agencies.

Mongolia and France signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 18 May 2018 in order to carry out space cooperation at the institutional level between the Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES) and the Mongolian communication and information technologies authority (ACTI). The MoU was signed by Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of …

U.S. based commercial space launch company Rocket Lab is getting ready for its first commercial launch, which is scheduled to take off from New Zealand in late June 2018. This U.S. spaceflight startup has scheduled new dates for its first commercial launch: a mission dubbed “It’s Business Time” which will launch via its small rocket, the Electron, between 23 June and 6 July 2018

Troubled Israeli commercial satellite operator Spacecom has won a U.S.$55 million contract from an unnamed customer to use the AMOS-17 satellite to broadcast content to the African continent. AMOS-17 is being built by U.S. satellite manufacturer Boeing Satellite Systems International and is scheduled to be launched by SpaceX by mid-2019, and is to replace AMOS-5 – built by a Russian manufacturer – that failed in orbit in 2015 after only four years operation of what should have been a fifteen year mission.

The UAE Space Agency, in cooperation with Khalifa University of Science and Technology at the Masdar Institute in Abu Dhabi and the American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK), has completed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of the MeznSat-3U Cubesat.

After a number of delays and starts, South Korea is finally pressing ahead with the development of its second Korean Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV-II) as well as its lunar exploration programme. The KSLV-II is a three-stage launch vehicle which will put a 1.5-ton multipurpose satellite into low orbit at 600 to 800 kilometers (372 to 497 miles) above the Earth. The first-stage booster will consist of four 75-ton fuel engines, and the second stage will be made up of a single 75-ton engine. The third stage will come with a 7-ton liquid engine.