SSI News
Virgin Orbit uses special-purpose acquisition company to fund growth
Launch company Virgin Orbit has joined the growing number of space companies to use a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to fund its future development by merging with NextGen Acquisition Corp II, a SPAC that holds US$383 million in its trust account. The...
Second Chinese launch in one day places experimental comms sat into transfer orbit to GEO
A Long March 3B (CZ-3B) rocket lifted-off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China, carrying a experimental communications technology test satellite into a Geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO). Occurring at 1541 GMT on 24 August, this mission was roughly 4.5...
Experimental communications satellites launched to LEO by China
A normally two-stage Long March 2C (CZ-2C) rocket with an Yuanzheng-1S upper-stage lifted-off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China, at 1115 GMT on 24 August. Although there was some confusion among initial reports, it seems this mission carried three...
OneWeb continues steady constellation deployment with fifth launch of the year
At 2213 GMT on 21 August a Soyuz 2-1B rocket lifted-off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, carrying 34 satellites for the OneWeb constellation. This launch, the fifth so far this year, takes the in-orbit satellite count to 288, out of a planned total of around...
Chinese taikonauts complete second spacewalk
Shenzhou 12 taikonauts, Liu Boming and Nie Haisheng conducted the second EVA from the Chinese Space Station (CSS) on 20 August at 0038 GMT. Tang Hongbo remained inside the Tianhe-1 module this time whilst mission commander Nie Haisheng worked with Liu Boming to...
Billionaire’s court case against Sutherland spaceport dismissed
Sutherland Spaceport in Scotland has survived an attempt by Danish billionaire Anders Povlsen and his company Wildland Ltd to halt development of one of the UK’s potential spaceport sites. A ruling published on 20 August by the Scottish Court of Session found against...
South Korean satellite builder announces new high-resolution satellite project
South Korean manufacturer Satrec Initiative (SI) intends to build a high-resolution Earth Observation (EO) satellite capable of 30 cm imagery. The announcement made on 18 August outlines its plans for the SPACEEYE-T project. The company intends this satellite to be a...
China launches set of two new cartography satellites
China successfully launched the Tianhui 2-02-A and B satellites on a Long March 4B (CZ-4B) vehicle from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre, China, at 2232 GMT on 18 August. The satellites were deployed into a sun-synchronous, low Earth orbit of approximately 500 km x...
Varda Space Industries orders three Photon buses from Rocket Lab (Updated)
Varda Space Industries a newspace company pioneering commercial microgravity manufacturing has contracted with Rocket Lab for three of its Photon satellites. The deal announced on 11 August will see the Photon satellites act as platforms for Varda's hardware,...
Blue Origin sues NASA after losing contract for Human Landing System (Updated)
Blue Origin’s disagreement with NASA over its failure to win a contract for the Human Landing System (HLS) finally reached its apogee on 13 August when the company filed a suit in the US Court of Federal Claims. The nub of the company’s claim is that NASA failed to...
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