SSI News
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...
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...
Close but no cigar (again): like its predecessor Starship SN9 test flight goes well until explosive crash landing fires up FAA controversy further
Just as the Starship SN8 test launch ended in an explosive landing failure in December – after all the hard bits of the flight – so the same has happened to its successor, Starship SN9. After a few days’ delay due to a flight safety waiver dispute with the Federal...
Russian Soyuz rocket launches Lotus-S ELINT satelllite
In snowy conditions, a Russian Soyuz 2-1b has launched the Lotos-S 5 electronic intelligence satellite into low Earth orbit at 2045 GMT on 2 February from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia. The satellite, which has now been given the military codename Cosmos...
Businessman offers up US$100 million to part fund charity spaceflight on SpaceX Crew Dragon/Falcon 9 combo
The businessman/entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, 37, who is founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, has chartered a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to low-Earth orbit for a human flight in aid of charity. The US$300 million mission, which will take place in late 2021, will carry...
Another day another EVA…this time to change out a battery plus some cameras
Two spacewalking astronauts took part in "extra vehicular activity" EVA-70 from the International Space Station (ISS) on 1 February 2021. The astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover had the main role of replacing a battery and installing three cameras. Astronauts...
Iran makes suborbital test flight of its new Zoljanah-1 launch vehicle
Iranian media has announced the first launch of a new Iranian launch vehicle called Zoljanah-1. Although the exact date has not been disclosed, the launch occurred during January. The 25.5m-long three-stage launch vehicle was apparently launched on a suborbital test...
China launches suspected naval intelligence satellite triplet
China conducted a Long March 4C launch at 0447 GMT, 29 January from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Northern China. This mission placed the second YAOGAN 31 satellite triplet into LEO. These satellites are officially for carrying out "electromagnetic environment...
Stay Informed with Seradata
Stay informed on the latest news, insights, and more from Seradata by signing up for our newsletter.