SSI News
NASA orders Falcon Heavy to launch Lunar Gateway’s HALO & PPE together…as Falcon Heavy looks likely to get Europa Clipper as well
NASA has selected the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to provide launch services for the agency’s Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), the foundation elements of the Lunar space station dubbed Gateway. After integration on Earth,...
After a long process Telesat selects Thales Alenia Space to build its newly christened Lightspeed constellation
Canadian FSS operator Telesat took one of the final steps towards the establishment of its long-planned LEO constellation on 9 February. It announced who it had selected to build its constellation as well as revealing its new name, Telesat Lightspeed. The multi-year...
ABL’s RS1 gets the nod from Lockheed Martin to fly from Unst in Shetland Islands
As part of its £23.5 million (US$31 million) launch enabling project for the UK Government, US aerospace firm Lockheed Martin has awarded a contract to US small launch vehicle manufacturer ABL Space Systems to provide a demonstration orbital “UK Pathfinder launch”...
NASA awards launch contract to SpaceX and orders a lunar lander from Firefly
A NASA announcement on 4 February 2021 outlines the award of the SPHEREx launch contract to SpaceX. SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) is a NASA medium-class explorer mission planned for launch in June...
Last Chinese launch of its Year of the Rat places suspected missile early-warning satellite into orbit
China has launched a Long March 3B (CZ-3B) rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 1536 GMT, 4 February. There was some uncertainty regarding the payload however it is now believed to be the re-flight of TJSW-6 (XJY-6) which was destroyed in March last year...
SpaceX completes another Starlink launch
At 0619 GMT on 4 February, SpaceX launched another 60 Starlink satellites into LEO. The mission saw a Falcon 9 vehicle lift-off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission successfully deployed its 60 STARLINK payload approx 1 hour 6 minutes after lift-off. The...
US Senators plead with Biden for more money for NASA human lunar lander
With just over one quarter of the funding it needed from Congress (US$850 million versus the US$3.2 billion requested) for its Human Landing System (HLS) - a lunar lander for its Artemis programme - NASA has been forced to delay the programme. The three contractors ...
Newly independent again MDA designing follow-on to Radarsat-2 for Canada
MDA of Brampton, Canada, has announced that it is six months into the design work on a follow-on to the 2007-launched Radarsat-2 for the Canadian Government. Radarsat-2 itself was built on a Alenia Spazio (now Thales Alenia Space) PRIMA platform. It is expected that...
On a sadder note: Capricorn One actor Hal Holbrook passes away as does actor Christopher Plummer, astronaut Millie Hughes-Fulford, Supremes’ singer Mary Wilson, NASA “worm” designer Bruce Blackburn, Sheik Yamani, and the inspirational Captain Sir Tom Moore
The veteran actor Hal Holbrook has died at the age of 95. Holbrook played the good guy informer "Deep Throat" in All the President's Men (1976) but is better remembered for his more devious roles such as playing a NASA villain in space conspiracy thriller Capricorn...
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos steps aside (slightly) to concentrate on Blue Origin etc
Jeff Bezos, founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the online delivery company Amazon, has decided to relinquish his role as CEO. Bezos will remain on the board of the company as Executive Chairman but hopes that his move will free up his time to concentrate on...
Stay Informed with Seradata
Stay informed on the latest news, insights, and more from Seradata by signing up for our newsletter.