SSI News
November sale of OneWeb to British/Indian interest? Now approved by bankruptcy court and US agencies
The Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York announced its approval of the joint British/Indian takeover bid of Chapter 11 company OneWeb on 2 October. This allows the sale of the company to take place and it is hoped this will be completed by the end of...
China launches seventh Yaogan 30 trio for reportedly Earth observation purposes
Launching from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China, a Long March 2c (CZ-2C) rocket has placed four payloads into LEO (Low Earth Orbit). Lift-off took place at 1519 GMT, 26 October. The primary payload was the three satellites making up the seventh Yaogan Weixing-30...
Russia launches third next-generation Glonass navigation satellite
A mission from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Northern Russia, saw Soyuz 2-1B rocket with Fregat-M upper-stage carry a satellite to Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). The lift-off occurred at 1908 GMT, 25 October. The payload is part of the Russian satellite navigation...
SpaceX launches 15th Falcon 9 mission carrying Starlink sats (14th carrying operational ones)
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 vehicle carrying 60 Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA at 1531 GMT on 24 October. The launch was the 15th flight of Starlink satellites and the 14th of fully operational ones. The launch vehicle’s...
Kleos Space orders second four-unit cluster from ISISpace
Kleos Space has ordered its second four-unit CubeSat cluster from Dutch-manufacturer Innovative Solutions in Space (ISISpace). Kleos is intending to launch a constellation to provide a radio-frequency, geo-location reconnaissance product. This deal will see ISISpace...
Cosmonauts and astronaut return to Earth on Soyuz MS-16
Soyuz MS-16, having undocked from the International Space Station at 2332 GMT on 21 October 2020, proceeded to make its deorbit burn at 0200 GMT on 22 October before separate into three modules with the landing module carrying three crew Russian cosmonauts Anatoliy...
NASA gets serious about the Moon as it awards refueling and other demo contracts
NASA has formally awarded “Tipping Point” contracts worth a total of US$370 million to 14 firms to demonstrate new technologies for lunar and Mars exploration. Possibly due to criticism that cryogenic storage and refueling technology would not be ready to make a human...
NASA OSIRIS-REx mission lands on asteroid Bennu, samples it (with door trouble) and leaves
NASA's OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security - Regolith EXplorer) space probe successfully descended, matched the asteroid Bennu’s rotational speed and landed on it on 20 October. The manoeuvre was a touch-and-go type given...
European small satellite manufacturer AAC Clyde Space to acquire US company SpaceQuest
Announced on 15 October 2020, is the intention of European smallsat manufacturing group, AAC Clyde Space, to purchase USA-based company SpaceQuest. This deal will benefit AAC Clyde as it attempts to expand its presence and market share in the lucrative American...
On a sadder note: we say goodbye to actress Rhonda Fleming, to actress/model Margaret Nolan, to rocker Eddie Van Halen (as well as Frank Bough, Bobby Ball & Nobby Stiles)
One of this writer's favourite films is the movie rendition of Mark Twain's fun time travelling tale A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949) starring Bing Crosby and Rhonda Fleming - a movie which, by the way, (spoiler alert) has a solar eclipse as a key...
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