SSI News
H-2A rocket successfully launches QZS 1R navigation signals satellite
Japan successfully launched a H-2A202 (SRB-A3) vehicle from the Tanegashima Launch Centre, Japan, carrying the Quazi Zenith Satellite 1R (QZS 1R), a navigational signals satellite built by Misibushi Electric Corp (MELCO) for the Japanese Cabinet Satellite Intelligence...
Kleos Space orders fourth CubeSat cluster and along with Varda Space secures spots on Falcon 9 rockets
Kleos Space has ordered its fourth cluster of four satellites, known as KLEOS OBSERVER MISSION, from ISISpace. As part of the order the four CubeSats will be manifested on a mid-2022 SpaceX rideshare mission by Spaceflight Inc. The Dutch CubeSat manufacturer has...
Space debris mitigation technology test satellite launched by China
China has launched a further technology test satellite in its SHI JIAN series. The mission lifted-off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China, at 0127 GMT on 24 October and utilised a Long March 3B/G2 (CZ-3B/G2) rocket. The satellite, known as Shi Jian 21...
Successful Ariane 5 launch of SES-17 and Syracuse 4A comsats acts as confidence booster for launch of NASA’s US$10 billion JWST
Having been delayed one day by a ground systems issue, and then a further one hour's wait to check out a pressurisation issue on its main stage, at 0210 GMT on 24 October, an Ariane 5 ECA+ successfully launched from Guiana Space Centre, Kourou, French Guiana. It was...
KSLV-II (NURI) rocket reaches target altitude but its dummy satellite did not achieve orbit
The maiden orbital launch of the KSLV-II (NURI) rocket, South Korea’s first domestically built launch vehicle, took place at 0800 GMT on 21 October. The three-stage vehicle carried a 1.5 metric ton dummy satellite payload. The 200 metric ton KSLV-II (NURI) rocket was...
Nanoracks-Lockheed Martin team plots Starlab space station…then Blue Origin-Boeing-Sierra Space team announces Orbital Reef design
Nanoracks, in collaboration with Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin, has formed a team to develop the first free-flying commercial space station. The space station, known as Starlab, will be a continuously crewed commercial platform, dedicated to conducting critical...
NASA selects gamma-ray telescope COSI as its next SMEX mission
NASA has selected the Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) spacecraft as its next Small Explorer (SMEX) class mission. The selection confirmed COSI as the contest winner on 18 October, heading out three other finalists who were also selected in March 2020....
Atlas V launches Trojan asteroid surveyor Lucy on mission for NASA…then has trouble locking out one of her solar arrays
An Atlas V 401 rocket from ULA (United Launch Alliance) has launched a Lockheed Martin-built, NASA Discovery-class spacecraft into orbit. Lift-off took place at 0934 GMT on 16 October from Cape Canaveral, USA, and utilised the “401” Atlas V configuration with no...
US DoD vexed by Chinese hypersonic missile test and North Korea’s submarine launch of Polaris-equivalent Pukguksong 3 missile into the Sea of Japan
While the US Department of Defense (DoD) has been reportedly alarmed by the recent apparent single very low orbital test of a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS)-style hypersonic Glide missile by China during July, there was a worse surprise: during October...
OneWeb crosses constellation halfway mark with another launch
LEO constellation contender OneWeb passed the satellite deployment, halfway mark with another 36-unit launch from Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia. The mission took place at 0940 GMT on 14 October and lasted for 3 hours 52 minutes. The Soyuz 2-1B rocket utilised a...
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