SSI News
It’s Goodbye to the Delta IV Heavy from Cape Canaveral and Hello to a new version of Angara-5 flying from Vostochny
Two major launches happened in early April. One was a swansong launch: the Delta IV Heavy's last flight. The other was supposed to be the first launch of a new version of the Angara-5 to formally start its operations from the new Vostochny Cosmodrome in far Eastern...
Launches in April 2024
An audience with Aarti Holla-Maini, Director of UNOOSA
Farah Ghouri finds out how Aarti Holla-Maini, director of the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs, is faring six months into the job, her plans for the office and why she believes the UN’s sustainability guidelines are the “treaty of our times” Six months after taking up...
Round-up of recommended space stories in March 2024
We're keeping an eye on space news, so you don't have to. Here is our round-up of the most important, and interesting, space news stories of March from across the web: Money money money: NASA gets significantly less than what it wanted with space and planetary science...
Mel’s Good Space
Our modern world relies heavily on space technology to make Planet Earth a more comfortable, safe and efficient place to live but, as many of us in the industry are aware, there is an increasing threat to these benefits. Spacecraft collisions, anti-satellite testing,...
SATELLITE 2024: US launch providers put industry concerns about launch site availability to bed, for the most part
During the Launch Services Executives panel session, Stephanie Bednarek, of SpaceX, said that the company intended to conduct 148 launches during 2024. If achieved, this would be an increase of more than 50 per cent on its tally for 2023. Fellow panellist Mark Peller,...
SATELLITE 2024: Launch providers reveal how new rockets will meet market demands
On the first day of the Satellite 2024 conference in Washington DC, executives from global launch providers sat down to discuss launch supply and demand forecasts. Taking part were Stephanie Bednarek, VP Commercial Sales at SpaceX; Josh Brost, CRO, Relativity Space;...
SATELLITE 2024: Intelsat CEO hints at in-orbit expansion plans and a terrestrial investment
Matthew Wilson, Seradata Reporter and Data Manager, reports from the Satellite 2024 conference in Washington, US, starting with the opening day keynote made by Intelsat’s CEO David Wajsgras David Wajsgras, CEO of Intelsat, began his address with a reminder of the US...
Third time lucky for Super Heavy/Starship ascent – barring its re-entry
After two failed launches, hopes were high that the Super Heavy first stage and its Starship upper stage/reusable spaceship would perform well on the combination’s third flight attempt. Those hopes were not misplaced. At 1325 GMT on 14 March, the mammoth SpaceX rocket...
A tale of two launch failures: Japan’s KAIROS rocket’s maiden voyage and China’s Long March 2C
The maiden flight of the Japanese commercial KAIROS (Kii-based Advanced and Instant Rocket System) launch vehicle ended in failure after only five seconds of flight. Carrying a dummy satellite, KAIROS was launched from the Kii Space Port, Japan, at 0201 GMT on 13...