Falcon 9 launches another 60 Starlink satellitles while reusable first stage lands for 7th time
After some weather and technical delays, a Falcon 9 launched at 0213 GMT on 25 November 2020 from the Cape Canaveral launch site (SLC-40 pad). All 60 STARLINK communications spacecraft deployed approximately 15 minutes after launch. The reusable first stage B1049...
Telesat to merge with long-time majority owner Loral to form a new publicly-traded company
Telesat Canada, and majority shareholder Loral Space & Communications have declared the intention to merge and form a new Canadian company, temporarily named, New Telesat. The announcement on 24 November outlines the planned future ownership of New Telesat and its...
Omnispace signs for delivery to orbit of its two satellites with Exolaunch as Spaceflight gets Orbit Fab mini-space tanker flight order
American company Omnispace has contracted with German launch services provider, Exolaunch, concerning its two upcoming S-band LEO communications satellites. Exolaunch is to manifest the two units on an SpaceX launch in "early 2022". It will also be providing...
China launches Chang’e 5 sample return mission to Moon…and it looks like a practice run for human trip
While China has come under recent international criticism for other aspects of its policy, it still retains a strong international admiration for its space exploits. The latest was the launch of its Chang'e 5 lunar sample return mission. China’s Chang’e 5 lunar...
AAC Clyde Space to build and operate 10-unit CubeSat constellation funded by ESA and UK Space Agency
On 18 November, AAC Clyde Space announced it was awarded an ESA contract for the xSPANCION programme. xSPANCION intends to orbit 10 CubeSat-class spacecraft to provide Earth observation and communications products. Enabling businesses to utilise space-based data,...
On a sadder note: Rocket engine expert George Sutton dies at 100, as do Brit TV entertainers Des O’Connor, John Sessions and football star Maradona
We note here a belated tribute to George P. Sutton, rocket scientist and textbook author, who passed away in October at the age of 100. No rocket scientist or engineer (or even space analyst or journalist) would be without at least one copy of his famous Rocket...
Falcon 9 launches “dog house” looking sea-level monitoring satellite Sentinel 6A Michael Freilich
The Sentinel 6A (Michael Freilich) satellite (aka Jason CS-1) was launched successfully into a Sun-synchronous orbit with its lift-off taking place at 1717 GMT on 21 November. The launch was performed by a Space X Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at...
Electron launches 29 satellites and returns parachuting first stage to a splashdown as step to helicopter recovery plan
Rocket Lab's most recent mission, dubbed "Return-to-Sender", saw an Electron launch vehicle lift-off from Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, at 0220 GMT on 20 November. The mission was carrying 29 smallsats/CubeSats, plus an advertising payload. The...
Spacewalk of the Sergeys: Two Russian cosmonauts make repairs and equipment changes to ISS
Russian Cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchcov - the two Sergeys - made an Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) - more commonly known as a spacewalk, from the airlock on the Poisk module on the International Space Station on 18 November 2020. This was the first...
GHGSat orders three further greenhouse monitoring sats from UTIAS Space Flight Laboratory
GHGSat has on 16 November contracted with fellow Canadian company Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) for its next three greenhouse gas monitoring microsatellites. GHGSat is a newspace company building a fleet of microsatellites to monitor global greenhouse gas emissions....
