SSI News
Rocket Lab’s Electron KS launches the “Antipodean Adventure”
Rocket Lab has successfully launched its Electron KS rocket from Onenui Station, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand at 0500 GMT on 4 August following a delay. The launch had been halted at T-minus 5 minutes and 15 seconds on 2 August, when it was originally scheduled to...
Slingshot Aerospace scoops up Seradata and Numerica in double acquisition
Austin, Texas-based Slingshot Aerospace – a company building space simulation and analytics products to accelerate space sustainability – has announced a double whammy of acquisitions including ourselves, Seradata, and Numerica’s Space Domain Awareness (SDA) division....
Russia launches Cosmos 2558 military satellite on Soyuz-2.1v which may have an inspection role
The Russian Ministry of Defence has successfully launched a Soyuz 2-1v light-class rocket with a Volga upper stage from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia at 2025 GMT on 1 August. The satellite carried has now been codenamed as Cosmos 2558 (Kosmos 2558), a generic filler...
Game of Chinese Rocket-body Roulette ends safely as Wentian Long March 5 debris falls into sea…but causes controversy over its risk (Updated)
The main stage of a Long March 5B (CZ-5B) rocket stage which was used to launch the Wentian module to the Chinese Space Station on 24 July, safely fell back to Earth on 30 July at circa 1645 GMT. The re-entry, while safely achieved, caused international controversy...
On a lighter note: Naming suggestions for Elon’s twins
The very fertile SpaceX/Telsa head Elon Musk is apparently doing his best to populate the Earth with his progeny, with new twins adding to his brood (he has 10 surviving children by three different women and a surrogate mother). We are wondering, at this point, what...
China uses Long March 2D/2 to launch trio of Yaogan-35 SIGINT sats
China launched a Long March 2D/2 (CZ-2D) rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 1328 GMT on 29 July. The rocket carried a trio of Yaogon-35 satellites to LEO. This is the third batch of units with this designation. They are reported to be used for “Scientific...
Chinese Zhongke ZK-1A (Lijian 1) rocket makes successful maiden launch carrying six small satellites
China conducted the maiden flight of a four stage solid-propellant rocket dubbed the Zhongke ZK-1A (Lijian-1) at 0412 GMT o 27 July 2022 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It carried six satellites into LEO including the SATech 01 spacecraft. The rocket, which...
Eutelsat and OneWeb sign US$3.4 billion merger deal
French satellite operator Eutelsat and UK government part-owned OneWeb have signed a merger deal that values the latter at US$3.4 billion. The acquisition by Eutelsat will see the creation of a new company to compete in the commercial space race with Elon Musk’s...
NASA selects SpaceX Falcon Heavy to launch Roman Space Telescope in October 2026
The Roman Space Telescope (Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope) which was formerly known as WFIRST (Wide Field Infra Red Survey Telescope) has had an launch ordered for it according to a NASA announcement on 19 July. NASA has given the contract to SpaceX which will fly...
Small orders: Satellite Vu orders second sat from SSTL, Northrop Grumman gets ROOSTER order, Draper gets NASA lunar farside experiment contract
A series of small spacecraft and experiment orders were announced in July. Satellite Vu has ordered the second in its small seven thermal imaging satellite constellation from the Guildford, England-based small satellite manufacturer SSTL using its DarkCarb bus design....
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