SSI News
Arianespace launches second Falcon Eye mission on Soyuz from Kourou
Following delays the Falcon Eye 2 mission has been launched by a Soyuz ST-A Fregat-M rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. Lift-off occurred at 0133 GMT, 2 December. The satellite was deployed into its 610 km, sun-synchronous low Earth orbit at approximately T+59...
H-IIA launches Japanese data relay satellite JDRS-1
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) successfully launched an H-IIA (H-2A 202) rocket carrying the Japanese Data Relay Satellite (JDRS-1) to GEO from the Tanegashima Space Center, Kyushu, Japan, at 0725 GMT on 29 November. The satellite's main role is to relay imagery...
Falcon 9 launches another 60 Starlink satellites while reusable first stage lands for 7th time
After some weather and technical delays, a Falcon 9 launched at 0213 GMT on 25 November 2020 from the Cape Canaveral launch site (SLC-40 pad). All 60 STARLINK communications spacecraft deployed approximately 15 minutes after launch. The reusable first stage B1049...
Telesat to merge with long-time majority owner Loral to form a new publicly-traded company
Telesat Canada and majority shareholder Loral Space & Communications have declared their intention to merge and form a new Canadian company, temporarily named New Telesat. The announcement, on 24 November, outlined the planned ownership of New Telesat and its...
Omnispace signs for delivery to orbit of its two satellites with Exolaunch as Spaceflight gets Orbit Fab mini-space tanker flight order
American company Omnispace has contracted with German launch services provider, Exolaunch, concerning its two upcoming S-band LEO communications satellites. Exolaunch is to manifest the two units on an SpaceX launch in "early 2022". It will also be providing...
China launches Chang’e 5 sample return mission to Moon…and it looks like a practice run for human trip
While China has come under international criticism for some of its policies, it still retains international admiration for its space exploits. The latest was the launch of its Chang’e 5 lunar sample return mission. The Chang’e 5 lunar orbiter/lander/sample return...
AAC Clyde Space to build and operate 10-unit CubeSat constellation funded by ESA and UK Space Agency
AAC Clyde Space has won an ESA contract for the xSPANCION programme, as announced on 18 November. xSPANCION intends to orbit 10 CubeSat-class spacecraft to provide Earth observation and communications products. This will enable businesses to utilise space-based data...
On a sadder note: Rocket engine expert George Sutton dies at 100, as do Brit TV entertainers Des O’Connor, John Sessions and football star Maradona
We note here a belated tribute to George P. Sutton, rocket scientist and textbook author, who passed away in October at the age of 100. No rocket scientist or engineer (or even space analyst or journalist) would be without at least one copy of his famous Rocket...
Falcon 9 launches “dog house” looking sea-level monitoring satellite Sentinel 6A Michael Freilich
The Sentinel 6A (Michael Freilich) satellite (aka Jason CS-1) was launched successfully into a Sun-synchronous orbit with its lift-off taking place at 1717 GMT on 21 November. The launch was performed by a Space X Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at...
Electron launches 29 satellites and first stage parachutes to splashdown as a step to helicopter recovery
Rocket Lab’s most recent mission, dubbed “Return-to-Sender”, saw an Electron launch vehicle lift off from Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, at 0220 GMT on 20 November. The mission was carrying 29 smallsats/CubeSats, plus an advertising payload. The...
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