Connecting Skies • Bridging Continents
An uncrewed Starliner-1 mission could fly as soon as December, with crewed flights targeted for 2028 once thermal and thruster fixes identified after 2024’s troubled crewed test are validated. NASA and Boeing have updated their plans for Starliner’s return to flight, with NASA intending to exercise options for a fifth and sixth crew mission to […]
Two unrelated Federal Register notices published this week: one is an environmental clearance for a new orbital rocket at Cape Canaveral, the other ends a four-decade-old safety exemption after a review found widespread non-compliance and a fatal accident. ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE FOR RELATIVITY’S TERRAN R The FAA has issued a Finding of No Significant Impact
FAA CLEARS RELATIVITY’S TERRAN R LAUNCH PROGRAMME AND ENDS CESSNA SINGLE-PILOT EXEMPTIONSRead More »
Shareholders overwhelmingly backed the deal, first announced in June, clearing a key hurdle toward what the companies call a vertically integrated space powerhouse. Iridium Communications stockholders have voted to approve the company’s acquisition by Rocket Lab, with approximately 99.6 percent of votes cast, representing around 81.0 percent of Iridium’s outstanding shares, in favour of the
IRIDIUM STOCKHOLDERS APPROVE ACQUISITION BY ROCKET LABRead More »
The deal marks Exolaunch’s move beyond satellite rideshare integration and comes as its acquisition by EQT Private Equity is expected to close by the end of the year. Exolaunch has signed a contract with SpaceX for a Starfall mission targeted to launch aboard a Starship rocket in 2029, the company announced in Paris on 21
A seven-country consortium led by Leonardo will spend the coming months mapping how national, institutional and commercial satellite assets could be federated into a single European system. LEONARDO SELECTED TO HELP SHAPE EUROPE’S FUTURE SOVEREIGN EARTH OBSERVATION CAPABILITY The European Space Agency has awarded Leonardo a fully funded contract to define the architecture of
Two new remote sensing satellite groups reached orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, a spaceport that has anchored China’s space programme since 1958 and marked its own launch on a Long March rocket family now flying roughly one mission a week. CHINA LAUNCHES YAOGAN-53 AND YAOGAN-56 GROUPS ON LONG MARCH’S 666TH FLIGHT China
France has awarded the CASSIOPÉE contract to Airbus Defence and Space and co-contractor Unseenlabs, renewing the country’s space-based signal intelligence capability ahead of the CERES constellation’s retirement by 2032. AIRBUS AND UNSEENLABS TO RENEW FRANCE’S SPACE-BASED SIGINT CAPABILITY On the sidelines of the International Space Summit in Paris, Catherine Vautrin, France’s Minister for the
AIRBUS AND UNSEENLABS TO BUILD FRANCE’S NEXT MILITARY SIGNAL INTELLIGENCE SATELLITESRead More »
Boeing has delivered the final three satellites, F11, F12 and F13, in SES’s 13-strong O3b mPOWER constellation, completing a medium-Earth-orbit network designed to deliver low-latency broadband to airlines, governments and remote communities. FINAL THREE SATELLITES COMPLETE THE CONSTELLATION Boeing has delivered the last three satellites in the O3b mPOWER programme, designated F11, F12 and
BOEING COMPLETES 13-SATELLITE O3B MPOWER CONSTELLATION FOR SESRead More »
An attitude control problem aboard Katalyst Space’s LINK spacecraft means it will not capture and boost NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory to a higher orbit as planned. LINK will still attempt rendezvous and proximity operations to demonstrate satellite servicing capabilities, with Swift now expected to re-enter the atmosphere later this year. THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE IS
Firefly Aerospace has been awarded a NASA Spacecraft Processing Operations Contract, allowing it to bid for task orders providing payload processing facilities and services for NASA missions launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The facility in question is the one Firefly built to support responsive launch, and it sits half a mile from its pad.
FIREFLY CLEARED TO SELL NASA THE BUILDING THAT MADE A 24-HOUR LAUNCH POSSIBLERead More »
