SSI News
Lockheed and Northrop receive orders for 72 more Transport Layer satellites from the SDA
The SDA announced on 21 August that it had awarded Tranche 2 contracts for 72 satellites (36 each) to Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. These satellites will be for its Transport Layer data-relay constellation. The contractors will build and operate their...
Soyuz 2-1A launches Progress MS-24 re-supply craft
A Soyuz 2-1A launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome (Tyuratam) carrying the Progress MS-24 re-supply craft on 23 August at 0108 GMT. The crafts two-day flight will end when it autonomously docks with the Zvezda service module of the International Space Station (ISS) on...
China launches Gaofen 12-04 for Earth observation
China successfully launched a Long March 4C from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, China at 1745 GMT on 20 August, marking the 484th flight mission of the Long March series carrier rockets. The vehicle was carrying Gaofen 12-04, a remote sensing Earth observation...
BAE Systems to buy Ball Aerospace in US$5.6 billion deal
British defence company BAE Systems plans to acquire Ball Corporation’s aerospace subsidiary for US$5.6 billion in cash. The deal, pegged as one of the biggest acquisitions by a UK company this year, is also BAE’s biggest, making public the extent of its ambition to...
SpaceX launches 22 satellites in first of back-to-back Starlink missions
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, USA at 0336 GMT on 17 August. The vehicle was carrying Starlink Group 6-10, a total of 22 second-generation Starlink satellites. The B1067 first stage landed on the drone barge “A Shortfall of Gravitas”...
Multiple launch orders for Rocket Lab from BlackSky, Synspective, and NASA (Updated)
On 8 August 2023, Earth Observation (EO) imagery provider and satellite operator BlackSky contracted with Rocket Lab for five further Electron rocket launches. This deal continues a relationship between the two companies which has seen Blacksky satellites launch on...
Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation fully funded after supplier swap saves US$2 billion
Telesat's Lightspeed constellation is fully financed after the Canadian company awarded MDA with a contract to build 198 satellites; in the process eschewing Thales Alenia Space and saving the satellite operator a cool US$2 billion. The new contract with MDA, a space...
Small sat build and launch orders: A busy month for small sats
The month of August usually has a slew of small satellite orders thanks to the Small Satellite Conference in Logan, Utah. GHGSat shows confidence in Spire's Space-as-a-Service offer by ordering a second cluster of CubeSats. Under the agreement, Spire will build,...
Two Chinese launches from Xichang: Khuaizhou-1A carrying five HeDe-3 ship tracking satellites and a Long March 3B/E carrying Ludi-Tance-4 (01) radar satellite
Two recent Chinese launches have been made from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The first launch was a large Long March 3B/E (CZ-B/E) rocket which launched at 1726 GMT on 12 August 2023. It put the Ludi-Tance-4 (01) radar satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer...
Astra Space, Planet and Momentus all make layoffs in their bids to survive and prosper
While there the space sector has seen some major advancements over August, from Virgin Galactic's first tourist flight and India's first lunar landing, there were also some casualties with a human cost. Three US space companies were forced to make layoffs as they...
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