SSI News
Virgin Orbit contracted to launch six hyperspectral imaging sats starting in 2023
On 21 April Virgin Orbit was selected to launch a series of six hyperspectral imaging satellites using its LauncherOne vehicle. The satellites are being developed by a team lead by Hypersat LLC - a geospatial analytics company - and QinetiQ US - the American arm of...
Amazon selects ULA Atlas V launches for upcoming LEO constellation Project Kuiper
Amazon has made its first official contract award for its future LEO satellite internet constellation – known as Project Kuiper. The award, announced on 19 April, was granted to American launch provider United Launch Alliance. ULA has been contracted to provide nine...
Ingenuity helicopter makes historic flight on Mars
Ingenuity – part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission – made the first powered, controlled flight on another planet at 0730 GMT on 19 April. The 2 kg solar-powered drone helicopter, which had been deployed on the Martian surface by the Mars rover Perseverence, managed to...
Soyuz MS-17 crew returns
The Soyuz MS-17 capsule undocked from the International Space Station Poisk module on 17 April to begin its return to Earth. Following a de-orbit burn at 0401 GMT on 19 April 2021, the capsule safely landed at 0455 GMT on 19 April near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. Crew...
NASA chooses SpaceX Starship derivative for human lunar lander but was choice forced by limited funding?
As Elon Musk had hinted on his Twitter feed, NASA formally announced on 26 April that it had selected SpaceX to provide a Human Landing System (HLS) for its Artemis Programme. The US$2.89 billion contract covers the development of the lander and a demonstration...
Blue Origin makes another successful uncrewed launch of its suborbital New Shepard
At 1556 GMT on 14 April, Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle and Mk 3 version of the capsule made another successful uncrewed launch beyond the Karman Line official limit of space (100km). The actual altitude reached a peak at 106 km over the Van Horn...
SpaceX Falcon Heavy selected to launch Astrobotic Griffin lunar lander in 2023
Astrobotic has selected SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket to fly its first GRIFFIN lunar lander to the Moon. This is the first mission for its larger lander product - its smaller PEREGRINE lander is due to fly this year. The GRIFFIN mission is planned to launch in 2023 and...
MEV-2 satellite life extender spacecraft finally docks with Intelsat 10-02 in GEO
Northrop Grumman's SpaceLogistics subsidiary announced that its Mission Extension Vehicle- 2 ( MEV-2) had successfully docked with the communications Intelsat 10-02 (IS-10-02) in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) in order to extend its life. After some practice...
Soyuz MS-18 mission carries three crew members to the ISS
Lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 0742 GMT on 9 April the Soyuz MS-18 mission carried three crew members to the ISS. The mission utilised a Soyuz 2-1A rocket to loft the Soyuz capsule into a Low Earth Orbit (LEO), inclined at 51.6 degrees....
On short notice China launches experimental satellite to LEO, will reportedly study the space environment
After a period of speculation concerning a planned Chinese launch, it lifted off at 2301 GMT, 8 April 2021 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The Long March 4B (CZ-4B) rocket carried the Shiyan 6-03 (Shiyan Weixing 6-03) to a high, 1,000 km, Low Earth Orbit...
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