A Long March 11 (CZ-11) rocket successfully launched a pair of GECAM (Gravitational Wave High-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-Sky Monitor) satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO) from the Xichang Satellite Center, China, at 2015 GMT on 9 December 2020. The two...
The Japanese Hayabusa-2 mission gave JAXA a laudable success when it returned to Earth with its asteroid samples safely on board the return capsule on 5 December. Having made trajectory corrections, the Hayabusa-2 spacecraft entered the Earth’s gravitational field at...
China successfully launched a Long March 3B (CZ-3B) vehicle carrying the Gaofen 14 Earth imaging satellite into a Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit at 0358 GMT on 6 December 2020. The launch took place from the LC3 launch complex at the Xichang Satellite Launch...
Following a one-day delay due to weather at 1617 GMT on 6 December a SpaceX Falcon 9 mission lifted-off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. This launch was carrying the first of a new-generation SpaceX Dragon Cargo capsules to the ISS. It also marked the beginning of...
ESA and Thales Alenia Space signed a €482 million (US$586 million) contract to develop the Radar Observation System for Europe in L-band (ROSE-L) environmental monitoring spacecraft – as part of Europe’s Copernicus programme. ROSE-L is planned for launch in 2028. ...
While it plans to get its own lunar samples via its Artemis human lunar programme, in the meantime NASA has selected four companies to collect some and transfer ownership of these samples to the agency. The companies selected are: Lunar Outpost of Golden, Colorado;...
