Satellite Launch Business

U.S. small satellite launch company Rocket Lab has announced the next evolution of its mission services; the in-house designed and built Photon™ satellite platform. As the global leader in small satellite launch, Rocket Lab now delivers an integrated spacecraft build and launch service. The end-to-end mission solution enables small satellite …

Online retail and cloud computing giant Amazon is likely joining the satellite communications mega-constellation competition according to filings made at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on its behalf by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), GeekWire.com reports. The proposed mega-constellation is dubbed Project Kuiper and will, if it goes ahead, consist of …

With a successful Soyuz launch that completed the first phase of SES’ O3b constellation, Arianespace today reaffirmed is ability to support the growing global market for such in-orbit satellite systems. Lifting off mid-day from the Spaceport in French Guiana, the workhorse launch vehicle delivered the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th …

The Beresheet lunar lander built and operated by Israeli not-for-profit company SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and launched by SpaceX from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 22 February 2019, has successfully arrived in Lunar orbit. Known as ‘Lunar capture’, the elliptical orbit brings Beresheet within 500 kilometres of the Moon’s …

By Bin Li On March 27, India announced it had successfully conducted an anti-satellite (ASAT) missile test, called “Mission Shakti”. After the United States, Russia and China, India is now the fourth country in the world to have demonstrated this capability. The destroyed satellite was one of India’s own. But …

Tunisia’s Telnet Group and Russian commercial launch provider GK Launch Services signed a contract on 1 April 2019 for the launch of the Challenge One satellite on board a Russian Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle integrated with the Fregat upper stage in 2020. The signing ceremony was chaired by Mr. Mohamed Frikha, …

Swiss New Space company Astrocast had its second satellite launched and deployed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (Mission PSLV-C45) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on 1 April 2019.  On this second mission Astrocast will focus on a set of propulsion technologies …

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C45) successfully launched EMISAT and 28 international customer satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR in Sriharikota. This flight marked the first mission of PSLV-QL, a new variant of PSLV with four strap-on motors. PSLV-C45 lifted off at 9:27 Hrs (IST) on 1 April …

Kleos Space S.A., the space-powered Radio Frequency Reconnaissance data provider, has signed a collaborative, non-binding, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with leading Israeli-based end-to-end geospatial intelligence company ImageSat International N.V. (iSi) to explore opportunities to use Kleos’ maritime RF activity-based satellite data to enhance geospatial intelligence analytics. Under the MoU, the …

A Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle successfully lifted off from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula at 23:27, 28 March 2019 UTC (12:27, 29 March NZDT). The mission launched a prototype reflect array antenna to orbit for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). “Congratulations to our dedicated …