SSI News
Russia launches Lotos-S satellite on board Soyuz 2-1B
A Soyuz 2-1B rocket was launched at 1120 GMT on 7 April 2022 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia. It carried the Cosmos 2554 (formally the Lotos S6) spacecraft. which is a part of the Russian Liana programme. This Russian Ministry of Defence satellite is...
Long March 4C launches Gaofan-3 03
At 2347 GMT on 6 April 2022, China launched a Long March 4C from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC). Aboard the launch was the Gaofen 3-03 radar satellite which was placed into a near polar sun-synchronous low Earth orbit of 744 x 738 km at an inclination of...
Astranis buys a single dedicated Falcon 9 launch for four of its satellites
Techcrunch.com reports that spacecraft manufacturer and operator Astranis has agreed to purchase a single Falcon 9 launch to carry four of its 420 kg MicroGEO small satellite bus platforms into a transfer orbit on their way to their final geostationary Earth orbital...
Amazon’s Kuiper constellation makes “largest ever” commercial launch order: a total of 68 launches for Arianespace, Blue Origin and ULA
As part of the ramp-up towards the launching of its Kuiper mega-constellation, Amazon placed what is believed to be the largest ever set of commercial multi-launch contracts with three launch providers, Arianespace, Blue Origin and ULA, on 5 April. Officially known as...
UK Government orders TYCHE satellite from SSTL to test indigenous ISR capability for later constellation
The UK government’s Defence Equipment and Support arm has signed a GB£22 million (US$28.8 million) contract on behalf of UK Space Command with the Airbus DS-owned small satellite manufacturer Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) for the construction of a satellite...
SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket with 40 satellites on board
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket at 1624 GMT on 1 April 2022 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), Florida. The mission, which is the fourth of its kind, is SpaceX's latest rideshare mission aimed at carrying more satellites at lower costs to...
Electron KS launches a pair of BlackSky satellites from Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
At 1241 GMT on 2 April 2022, an Electron KS rocket was successfully launched from the Onenui luanch station in the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand. The launch carried a pair of BlackSky Global satellites initially into a an elliptical transfer orbit. After a second...
Newspace fundraising for Pixxel and Synspective in March
Pixxel Space an Indian newspace company announced the closing of a Series A funding round on 28 March. This raised US$25m and included Seraphim Space Investment as a participant. Also in March Synspective Inc, Japan, reported that it had completed a Series B round of...
Suborbital space: New Shepard NS-20 launches six more space travellers
On 31 March a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket and capsule on flight NS-20 launched from the Earth ("Launch Site One" in West Texas) at 1358 GMT on 31 March. It carried six space travellers. All six (five fare paying) humans were safely recovered to Earth in their...
NASA orders more ISS cargo flights from Northrop Grumman and SpaceX
NASA has upped the number of cargo missions as part of its CRS-2 contract originally signed in 2016, from 20 to 32 with all to take place before 2026. The 12 extra flights have gone to Northrop Grumman (six on the Antares-launched Cygnus) and SpaceX (six on the Falcon...
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