The European Space Agency (ESA) went ahead, on 13 November, with signing three, two-satellite construction contracts with European industry. Two have been awarded to Thales Alenia Space and one to Airbus Defence and Space. These contracts cover three of the six future...
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security – Regolith EXplorer) space probe successfully descended, matched the asteroid Bennu’s rotational speed and landed on it on 20 October. The manoeuvre was a touch-and-go...
NASA has awarded a launch contract for its Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission to SpaceX for Falcon 9 launch in 2024. The mission will also carry four secondary payload satellites. The value of the contract covering launch from Cape Canaveral,...
Having previously been selected as the prime contractor in early July, Airbus DS has formally received a Eu300 million (US$352 million) order to build the 1,700 kg Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography ALtimeter (CRISTAL) ice monitoriing spacecraft from the...
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...
Given that Vandenberg, California, is the main launch site for US missions to polar and near polar Sun-synchronous orbit launches, it was a surprise that SpaceX elected to use Cape Canaveral to launch Argentina’s second three metric ton radar satellite,...
