On 15 September the European Space Agency (ESA) awarded the construction contract for their HERA mission to German manufacturer OHB Systems. The contract is valued at EUR€129.4m (US$153.3m). OHB will be the lead in a team with 17 other companies from ESA member...
Every August, Seradata does an analysis of which nation is leading the “human” space race – or rather races – to return humans to the Moon and put them on the surface of Mars. This year progress has become clearer and the USA is very much the leading contender in both...
Airbus DS, France, has been selected to build the Earth Return Orbiter (ERO), part of the, NASA/ESA, Mars Sample Return project. The ERO will transport recovered Martian rock samples – some of which will be prepared by the recently launched Perseverance rover...
Lifting-off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, a ULA Atlas V 541 rocket has carried the Mars 2020 mission into orbit. The launch occurred at 1150 GMT, 30 July 2020. The payload was placed into a “parking” low Earth orbit before the rocket’s Centaur...
China successfully launched the Tianwen-1 mission on a Long March 5B launch vehicle at 0441 GMT on 23 July. The rocket was launched from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island, China. Tianwen-1 consists of an orbiter and a rover to study the planet...
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) joined the space race in spectacular style. With the help of a Japanese Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Launch Services operated H2A-202 (SRB-A3) rocket. Its Hope space probe (Misabar Al’amal) was launched to Mars at 2158 GMT on...
