SSI News
China launches three Yaogan 31-03 electronic spy satellites aimed at tracking naval vessels
China launched three Yaogan 31-03 satellites, Yaogan 31-03-A, -B, and -C, into low Earth orbit at 0222 GMT on 24 February 2021. The satellites were launched on a Long March 4C (CZ-4C) launch vehicle from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in China. The three...
Covid-19 Pandemic Endgame: “1943” has been reached but setbacks may still happen
Most of those living today will not have been alive during the World Wars of the Twentieth Century. And yet, the Coronavirus Covid-19 Pandemic, with all its sorrow and restrictions on normal life, has given a little taster of what wartime life was like on the various...
Cygnus NG-15 (Katherine Johnson) space freighter is launched to International Space Station
The US commercial unmanned space freighter Cygnus NG-15 (Katherine Johnson) was launched successfully by an Antares 230+ rocket at 1736 GMT on 20 February from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia. The 8,050 kg craft was launched on a...
Firefly Aerospace contracted to fly NASA JPL mission in 2022
On 18 February 2021 General Atomics has contracted Firefly Aerospace to launch the OTB-2 (MAIA) mission to LEO in 2022. The mission is targeting a circular 740 km, polar orbit. Firefly will utilise one of its Firefly Alpha launch vehicles for the mission. It is...
ABL secures two payloads for the maiden flight of its RS1 rocket
On 16 February 2021 upcoming American, launch provider ABL Space Systems announced that it had secured two commercial payloads for its maiden launch, planned for Q2 2021. ABL is developing the RS1 small launch vehicle capable of carrying 1,350 kg to LEO. The customer...
SpaceX successfully launches another Starlink batch but loses the first-stage during landing attempt (Updated)
Lifting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 0359 GMT on 16 February, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried the second Starlink launch of the month into LEO. The 60 Starlink satellites were deployed one hour five minutes into the launch into the correct orbit. However, it...
Soyuz 2-1a launches Progress MS-16 cargo craft to ISS but it had to use remote manual docking after system glitch (Updated)
The Progress MS-16 cargo craft was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam, Kazakhstan at 0445 GMT on 15 February. The spacecraft was carrying cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). The craft used the standard two day rendezvous...
Three Mars missions arrive at same time: UAE’s Hope Probe, China’s Tianwen and finally USA’s Mars 2020 Rover Perseverance (Updated)
Just like London buses, three Mars missions all seemed to arrive at the same time. While this was mainly due to planetary alignments favouring certain launch and thus arrival dates, inexpert media commentators reported that a “race” had happened and that the United...
Virgin Orbit is contracted to launch two CubeSats for Polish company
Virgin Orbit announced on 9 February 2021 that it has been contracted by Polish smallsat manufacturer SatRevolution. The two 3U CubeSats will be launched later in 2021 on one of its LauncherOne rockets. SatRevolution plans to use these two STORK CubeSats as part of...
Progress MS-15 departs ISS and deorbits itself to safe destruction during re-entry
Filled with trash, Russian cargo craft Progress MS-15 (ISS-76P) undocked from the International Space Station's (ISS) Pirs module at 0521 GMT on 9 February. Just over three hours later it fired its engines in a deorbit burn at 0830 GMT. The spacecraft made a...
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