SSI News
Lockheed Martin given a US$4.9 billion go ahead for next-gen OPIR sats
On 4 January American aerospace/defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin received a US$4.9 billion contract from the US Space Force. This follows on from an initial US$2.9 billion “development” contract received in 2018. The first was to begin work on the Next-Gen OPIR...
Virgin Orbit bounces back from maiden failure as its LauncherOne reaches orbit
After several technical delays and a maiden launch failure (and at a developmental cost of around US$1 billion), Virgin Orbit finally achieved the first successful flight of its air-launched LauncherOne vehicle. The procedure began with the Boeing 747-400 “Cosmic...
OneWeb aims to “streamline” future constellation from 48,000 to 6,000 sats and announces further funding
In a surge of activity, OneWeb – recently purchased by British/Indian interests – has applied to the US FCC for a “minor” amendment to its Phase 2 constellation proposal involving a considerable reduction in its planned number of satellites. In addition to this, on 15...
Blue Origin launches new version of New Shepard on suborbital uncrewed test flight plus a new capsule
At 1717 GMT on 14 January, Blue Origin conducted a test flight from their Van Horn, Texas, facility. The subject was a re-engined version of the New Shepard vertically-launched, suborbital, spaceflight system. Additionally the mission was also evaluating a new capsule...
SpaceX Cargo Dragon CRS-21 freighter undocks from ISS and re-enters…as NASA plans new add-on solar arrays
The SpaceX freighter Cargo Dragon CRS-21 which was being operated on a mission for NASA, undocked from IDA-3 port on the Harmony module of the International Space Station (ISS) at 1405 GMT on 12 January 2021. Unlike earlier the Cargo Dragon design which needed the ISS...
Manifest activity for SpaceX with new order for MethaneSAT and juggling rideshare payloads
On 13 January SpaceX was selected by MethaneSAT LLC (part of the Environmental Defense Fund) to launch its MethaneSAT mission in late-2022. The satellite will ride on a Falcon 9 rocket and will likely be joined by other payloads considering its less than hefty mass...
First launch of 2021 sees SpaceX Falcon 9 place Turksat 5A into supersync GTO
SpaceX launched the Turksat 5A geostationary communications satellite at 0215 GMT on 8 January from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission utilised a Falcon 9 rocket which deployed the 3,500 kg payload into a super-synchronous GTO (Geostationary Transfer Orbit) of...
Despite anti-democratic attempt to storm its government, the USA gets a new President – with Senate power which is bad news for SLS
After politically traumatic events in Washington DC, the inauguration of President elect Joe Biden and his Vice President elect Kamala Harris took place successfully on 20 January. This was two weeks after rioting supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump had...
Oops butterfingers! Two DARPA Mandrake satellites are dropped during processing
Space News reports that two DARPA owned satellites, Mandrake 1 and 2, have been damaged during processing. The satellites were apparently dropped on 4 January at a satellite processing facility at Cape Canaveral while being loaded into a payload separation system,...
2020 Launch Year – final reckoning: lots of failures, the most satellites launched, UK takes surprise runner-up position
According to the Seradata SpaceTrak launch and satellite database, the “final score” for launches in 2020 is 11 launch failures out of 114 orbital attempts. One of these was really a minor partial involving a pair of stuck Lemur satellites on a Vega (only about 3 per...
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