SSI News
Launches in January 2024
The dust had barely settled from the fireworks and celebrations of the new year, before launch vehicles were being launched again. Keep up with the latest launches in January on this page, as we will regularly update our tracker: 1 January 2024 -...
An audience with the ‘father of smallsats’: Sir Martin Sweeting
Farah Ghouri finds out the status of the Lunar Pathfinder project, why the cubesat bubble is far from bursting, and how it will be “quite interesting” to discover life beyond Earth, from Sir Martin Sweeting, chief executive of Surrey Satellite Technology Limited...
NASA mourns revolutionary Mars helicopter Ingenuity after it suffers blade damage
While drones are commonplace on Earth, where amateur versions are often used as toys, their use on other planets is still being explored. It is clear that the technology will provide significant benefits. Drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), for example, can be...
Japan’s SLIM makes historic (crash) landing on the Moon…and is revived
Japan watched with bated breath to see if its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) would safely reach the lunar surface and make it only the fifth nation to achieve the feat, following the success of India’s Chandrayaan-3 last year. A live stream of the event by...
Analysis: Artemis human landing mission delays: why is it so hard to get there?
NASA has announced a delay in its Artemis human missions to the Moon. Artemis II, originally scheduled for late 2024, has been postponed until no earlier than September 2025 after the agency cited safety concerns. The delay is attributed to the unexpectedly high...
Another record-breaking year for orbital rocket launches and for satellites launched despite Starlink’s design change
The number of launches has broken the all-time record – again. This year there were 223 orbital launch attempts, which breaks last year’s record of 186 attempts. This continues the trend since 2019, and the general trend since 2005, of an ever-increasing number of...
SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Starlink Group 6-35
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA at 2235 GMT on 07 January 2024. The vehicle was carrying Starlink Group 6-35, a total of 23 v2 Mini Starlink communications satellites for the second-generation Starlink...
ULA back in the game with Vulcan-Centaur maiden launch despite fate of Peregrine
The Peregrine PM-1 lunar lander began its journey to the Moon on 8 January on board a Vulcan-Centaur 542 rocket launched on its maiden flight from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 0718 GMT. If it succeeds in its landing attempt on 23 February, it will become the first US...
Kuaizhou-1A launches four Tianmu weather sats
China's first launch of 2024 was of four Tianmu radio-occultation weather satellites of the Tianmu constellation. At 1120 GMT on 5 January 2024 a Kuaizhou-1A solid rocket lifted off from Jiuquan carrying the Tianmu-1 15-18. These satellites examine how navigation...
SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Ovzon-3 comsat on its way to eventual GEO operating position
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA at 2304 GMT on 3 January. On board was the small communications satellite Ovzon-3, which will be operated by the Swedish/US firm Ovzon over 59.7 degrees East in...