SSI News
End of the line: Virgin Orbit’s assets are sold off
The Sir Richard Branson initiated Virgin Orbit project, having been in bankruptcy protection, is now formally at an end with the sale of its assets being announced. The four-engine Boeing 747-400 carrier aircraft, dubbed Cosmic Girl, has been bought by Stratolaunch...
China launches trio of sats into LEO for two universities
At 0800 GMT on 21 May China successfully launched a Long March 2C (CZ-2C) rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The mission placed three satellites into LEO for two Chinese universities: Luojia 2-01, a SAR microsatellite for Wuhan University and Aomen...
Axiom Space puts first Arab woman in ISS with its second private astronaut mission to the station
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 2137 GMT on 21 May, carrying the Crew Dragon - Axiom Mission 2 (Ax-2), a private astronaut mission, to the International Space Station (ISS). The Crew Dragon spacecraft...
New orders: Five UAE SAR satellites order goes to Finland’s Iceye
Finland's ICEye firm has been awarded an order to develop and build five synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) equipped satelites for geospatial imagery firm Bayanat and the communications satellite operator Yahsat - both based in UAE. The plan is to build a national...
SpaceX launches five Iridium-NEXT and fifteen OneWeb sats plus a OneWeb test spacecraft called Joey-Sat for its competitors
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 rocket from Vandenberg, California, USA at 1316 GMT on 20 May 2023. The launch vehicle was carrying five Iridium-NEXT satellites (174, 177-179, & 181), fifteen OneWeb satellites (621-635) and a single OneWeb...
Blue Origin gets NASA’s vote for second cryogenic lunar lander which will be under much less time pressure than SpaceX
Having lost out in the competition to produce NASA’s initial lunar lander for its Human Landing System (HLS), Blue Origin’s National Team celebrated the award of a contract for a second lander design under the agency’s NextSTEP-2 Appendix P Sustaining Lunar...
Inmarsat orders three small GEO Inmarsat-8 satellites from newspace manufacturer Swissto12
Inmarsat, a British GEO operator being bought by Viasat, has ordered three GEO satellites from newspace entity Swissto12. These units will be based on the Swissto12 HummingSat GEO bus and will be much smaller than previous Inmarsat satellites. The deal, announced on...
SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Starlink Group 6-3 from Cape Canaveral
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA at 0619 GMT on 19 May 2023. The vehicle was carrying Starlink Group 6-3, a total of 22 second generation Starlink satellites. The reusable B1076 first stage (on its 5th...
Thales Alenia Space wins US$256 million Italian contract for servicing demo mission
Thales Alenia Space has secured a US$256 million (€235m) contract from the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to develop a dedicated In-Orbit Servicing (IOS) demonstration mission scheduled to launch in 2026. Thales Alenia Space is a joint venture between Thales, a French...
China launches first backup satellite for its BeiDou satellite navigation system
Launching at 0249 GMT on 17 May a CALT Long March 3B (CZ-3B) rocket has carried a Chinese BeiDou-3 satellite navigation satellite into orbit. The mission lifted-off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Southern China. The BeiDou-3 unit, identified as BeiDou-3...
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