Blow for Boeing as GiSAT 1 order is cancelled
Boeing Satellite Systems has officially cancelled the construction of the GiSAT 1 communications satellite for the Cayman Islands-based Global IP. Officially the cancellation of the construction order which was originally made in September 2016, was for a payment...
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Ventions successor Astra Space has suborbital test launch failure – thought to be its second
Space News reports that Astra Space Inc - a successor company to Ventions, the California pump-fed rocket engine developer - is reported to have had a failure of its second test rocket on 29 November 2018 flying on a south-southwesterly track out of the Kodiak Island...
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Cosmonauts make spacewalk to check out “puncture” repair to damaged Soyuz
Russian cosmonauts Kononenko and Propkopev have made a spacewalk on 12 December 2018 to investigate the extent of the damage and the success of the repair work that was done to the Soyuz MS-09 orbital module when it was discovered that it had a hole drilled through...
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Chinese Long March-2D rocket launches 12 satellites to LEO
Launching from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, located in Northern China, at 0412 GMT, on 7 December 2018, a SAST (Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology) Long March-2D (CZ-2D) rocket lifted-off to LEO (Low Earth Orbit) for CGWIC (China Great Wall Industry...
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China launches its Chang’e 4 lander and rover mission to lunar far side
While lunar orbiters have imaged the lunar far side before, China is attempting a world first in trying to land its Chang'e 4 lander and rover mission near the South Pole there. The first stage of the mission went well with the successful launch of Chang'e 4 on a...
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Thales Alenia Space to help build four radarsats for South Korea
Using its past experience in building the Cosmo-Skymed radar satellite series, Thales Alenia Space has been approached to be part of the team building four new radar satellites for the South Korean Agency for Defence Development. The firm has since signed separate...
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Inmarsat makes launch booking on H-3
London-based satellite operator Inmarsat has made a "booking" with Japan's Mitsibushi Heavy Industries (MHI) for a launch of one of Inmarsat's satellites on a Japanese H-3 rocket. The lower cost new generation expendable H-3 (H-III) rocket replaces the H-2A...
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Falcon 9 launches Dragon CRS-16 correctly but lands its reusable first stage in the sea
While its reusable operations have, for the most part, gone well to date, every now and again SpaceX suffers a landing failure which makes the clockwork operation wobble. Having got to three uses with a single stage on the multiple satellite Vandenberg launch for...
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SpaceX launches multiple smallsat mission for Spaceflight Industries using an “experienced” first stage
After a series of delays due to various reasons from National holidays to high winds, the Sun-Synch Express mission for Spaceflight Industries was launched by an Space X Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket at 1834 GMT, 3 December 2018. The launch from the western SpaceX launch...
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Late News: Eutelsat confirms order for Eutelsat Hotbirds 13F and 13G
On 13 November 2018, Eutelsat Communications S.A. announced that it formally selected Airbus Defence and Space to manufacture two next generation HOTBIRD satellites based on the Eurostar Neo satellite bus/platform. This, in effect, solidifies the earlier MoA...
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