SSI News
APSTAR 6E orbit raising is slowed after faults stymy use of main kick motor engine
The APT Satellite Holdings-owned APSTAR 6E HTS communications satellite, which was placed into an initial orbit by a Chinese Long March 2C/3 (CZ-2C/3) rocket on 12 January, has reportedly run into problems. The launch, from the Xichang site, was unusual in that it...
China deploys 14 satellites on Long March-2D rocket
The Chinese sent 14 new satellites into orbit on a Long March-2D/2 (CZ-2D/2) rocket at 0314 GMT on 15 January. The launch took place from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the Shanxi Province of north China. Among the 14 satellites were high-resolution optical...
Falcon Heavy launches USSF-67 two satellite payload on way to GEO with its two boosters landed for future launches (Corrected)
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy Block 5 (px) rocket successfully lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA at 2256 GMT on 15 January 2023. Aboard the flight dubbed USSF-66 for the US Space Force were two military spacecraft heading to an initial parking orbit, and then...
Events on International Space Station: Dragon CRS-26 departs as do some cubesats
Events on the International Space Station have been more muted after the excitement of the Soyuz MS-22 coolant leak. On 6 January three cubesats were released. SURYASAT-1, OPTIMAL-1 and HSKSAT-1 which were carried on the J-SSOD #24 deployer and was extracted from the...
Long March 2D launches Yaogan-37 remote sensing sat plus Shiyan-22A &-22B technology test types – this time logged on right launch
A Long March 2D (CZ-2D) rocket lifted off from Jiuquan at 0700 GMT on 13 January 2023. Aboard were three satellites. The primary payload was the Yaogan-37 remote sensing satellite. The other satellites aboard were Shiyan-22A and Shiyan-22B which are thought to have a...
Long March 2C launches small GEO comsat APSTAR 6E HTS using a “Kick Stage”
China's Long March 2C/3 (CZ-2C/3) rocket has been modified with a additional kick stage attached to the satellite to launch the small - at least small for a communications satellite - 1,800 kg APSTAR-6E HTS (High Throughput Satellite) on its way to a geostationary...
Capella Space raises $60 million for its SAR satellite constellation
Capella Space has raised US$60 million which it plans to spend on growing its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging services and its constellation. The new funding in growth equity comes from the United States Innovative Technology Fund and comes less than 12 months...
Soyuz MS-23 to replace leak-damaged Soyuz MS-22 for crew return
Following a radiator leak on 15 December, Roscosmos, in agreement with NASA and other International Space Station (ISS) partners, has decided that the Soyuz MS-22 will not return to Earth with humans on it, unless there is an extreme emergency. A radiator leak on...
ABL suffers from curse of maiden flights after RS-1 rocket falls to its destruction and damages pad (Updated)
After a series of launch aborts and technical delays, ABL Space Systems perhaps had its own portents of doom when it decided not to live-webcast the maiden launch of its two-stage LOX (liquid oxygen)/kerosene powered RS-1 rocket. Instead, the US rocket maker and...
SpaceX Falcon 9 launches batch of 40 OneWeb comsats for competitor
In yet another act of altruism, albeit a revenue earning example, SpaceX used its Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 rocket to launch 40 OneWeb satellites for its Starlink communicaitons constellation competitor OneWeb on the same day that its own Starlink launch was delayed (a...
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