Satellite Launch Business

India’s second lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, will be attempted in mid-April 2019, a senior Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) official said on 11 January 2019. Chandrayaan-2 will comprise a lander and a lunar rover. “We are targeting mid-April to launch Chandrayaan-2 as there were certain tests which could not be done …

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is aiming for the first crewed Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission to take place in December 2021. Following the Indian government’s recent allocation of U.S.$1.4 billion for the Gaganyaan mission, ISRO has revealed how much of this budget boost will be spent in achieving an …

Frost & Sullivan forecasts an estimated launch demand for 11,746 small satellites for new constellation installations and replacement missions by 2030. Such demand would take the small-satellite launch services market past the U.S.$69 billion mark and present significant growth opportunities throughout the industry. In order to keep up with market …

As Iran makes preparation to launch three satellites using Iranian launch vehicles, the United States has warned Tehran not to conduct the launches and condemned the Iranian space programme as a deceptive measure that in reality is designed to help build long-range ballistic missiles. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo …

Danish CubeSat manufacturer has apparently slow-rolled manufacturing of 200 Pearl CubeSats for the Australian Stock Exchange-listed New Space company Sky and Space Global after two payments thought to be worth U.S.$2.3 million have been missed, according to a report in Space News. The total contract between GomSpace and Sky and …

China’s first private satellite launch vehicle production facility has begun operations in the city of Huzhou, located in east China’s Zhejiang Province, according to the privately-owned and  Beijing-based launch vehicle manufacturer LandSpace. The company told China’s Xinhua News Agency on 28 December 2018 that their production facility, that includes a …

The deputy commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, announced on 29 December 2018 that Iranian experts have successfully built radars capable of monitoring satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), according Iranian news reporting. Addressing a conference at the Supreme National Defence University in Tehran, Brigadier …

The Indian government announced on 28 December 2018 that its Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission expected to take place in 2022 will consist of three crew members, last for five to seven days in orbit, and is budgeted for the equivalent of U.S.$1.43 billion, according to Indian media reports. Announced in …

The last Russian satellite launch of 2018 took place on 27 December 2018 when a Soyuz 2-1A launch vehicle lifted off from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, lofting two Kanopus-V remote sensing satellites and twenty-six secondary payloads into orbit with the aid of a Fregat upper stage. The Soyuz 2-1A launched at …

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is looking to develop a reusable satellite launch vehicle similar to the reusable Grasshopper booster rockets from the SpaceX Falcon 9 satellite launch vehicle, The Times of India reports. The Vertical Takeoff and Vertical Landing (VTVL) reusable launch vehicle concept is called ADMIRE, and …