SSI News
International Space Station battery debris falls on Florida house….should Keraunothnetophobics be afraid? Probably not
Keraunothnetophobia is the fear of falling human-made satellites and other space objects - not to be confused with Keraunophobia which is the fear of lightning strikes. As such there was fearful news for Keraunothnetophobics in March when it was revealed that a 1 kg...
US Navy makes Exo-atmospheric missile interception to aid defence of Israel from Iran’s mass missile and drone attack
The US Navy used its Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptor missiles in action for the first time to shoot down Iranian medium range ballistic missiles in space during mass missile and drone attack on Israel on 13 April 2024 (Iran's attack was in response to a missile...
Analysis: spiralling costs may spell end of the line for Mars Sample Return
The cost of NASA’s Mars Sample Return project has risen from a projected US$8 billion to US$11 billion, prompting many to question if the mission is worth continuing. In response, the space agency has turned to its field centres for cost cutting ideas, with any...
It’s Goodbye to the Delta IV Heavy from Cape Canaveral and Hello to a new version of Angara-5 flying from Vostochny
Two major launches happened in early April. One was a swansong launch: the Delta IV Heavy's last flight. The other was supposed to be the first launch of a new version of the Angara-5 to formally start its operations from the new Vostochny Cosmodrome in far Eastern...
Launches in April 2024
An audience with Aarti Holla-Maini, Director of UNOOSA
Farah Ghouri finds out how Aarti Holla-Maini, director of the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs, is faring six months into the job, her plans for the office and why she believes the UN’s sustainability guidelines are the “treaty of our times” Six months after taking up...
Round-up of recommended space stories in March 2024
We're keeping an eye on space news, so you don't have to. Here is our round-up of the most important, and interesting, space news stories of March from across the web: Money money money: NASA gets significantly less than what it wanted with space and planetary science...
Mel’s Good Space
Our modern world relies heavily on space technology to make Planet Earth a more comfortable, safe and efficient place to live but, as many of us in the industry are aware, there is an increasing threat to these benefits. Spacecraft collisions, anti-satellite testing,...
SATELLITE 2024: US launch providers put industry concerns about launch site availability to bed, for the most part
During the Launch Services Executives panel session, Stephanie Bednarek, of SpaceX, said that the company intended to conduct 148 launches during 2024. If achieved, this would be an increase of more than 50 per cent on its tally for 2023. Fellow panellist Mark Peller,...
SATELLITE 2024: Launch providers reveal how new rockets will meet market demands
On the first day of the Satellite 2024 conference in Washington DC, executives from global launch providers sat down to discuss launch supply and demand forecasts. Taking part were Stephanie Bednarek, VP Commercial Sales at SpaceX; Josh Brost, CRO, Relativity Space;...