Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has signed an amendment to its CO2M contract worth €169 million with project prime contractor OHB for the development and qualification of the payloads for the first two satellites in the CO2M mission, part of Europe’s Copernicus program. Copernicus is the core satellite […]
Payloads
ESA’s Call For Uni CubeSat Team Proposals
Teams that have already assembled their hardware will have the chance to verify equipment, payloads, experiments, or entire nanosatellites making use of the CubeSat Support Facility in ESEC-Galaxia (Belgium). The ESA Academy announces two new hands-on training opportunities for University CubeSat teams. The call for proposals are open to teams, composed of bachelor, master and PhD students […]
Spaceflight’s 50th Mission All Groomed + Set For A Rocket Lab Electron Launch
Spaceflight Inc. is preparing for their 50th mission, which will launch aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket no earlier than April 22. The RL-9 mission, called “There and Back Again,” is scheduled to launch from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. Following this launch, Spaceflight will have successfully launched 448 spacecraft across 50 […]
Inmarsat’s Second 1-6 F2 Satellite Enters Thermal Vacuum Testing
This revolutionary layered approach is designed to meet the accelerating bandwidth requirements of more diverse, demanding and ever more widely adopted applications in the commercial and government mobility markets. Inmarsat’s second groundbreaking I-6 satellite (I-6 F2) — which is approximately the size of a double-decker bus, and the wingspan larger than a commercial plane — is entering thermal vacuum testing. Constructed on […]
Rocket Lab Planning The First Mid-Air Helicopter Capture Of The Electron Rocket During The Company’s Next Mission “There + Back Again”
For the first time, Rocket Lab will attempt a mid-air helicopter capture of an Electron rocket as it returns to Earth from space, furthering the company’s program to make Electron the first reusable orbital small launch vehicle. The “There and Back Again” mission, Rocket Lab’s 26th Electron launch, will lift off from Pad A at […]
France Enlists Synchrocube’s Solutions When GNSS Navigation Signals Are Unusable
A news update below regarding the Synchrocube project that aims to provide a complementary solution to navigation systems (GNSS: GALILEO; GPS) in order to provide synchronization functions when GNSS navigation signals are unusable. Synchrocube is part of the French space recovery plan. The main goal is to test this service, using a first satellite placed […]
Celestis Memorial Payload To Be Launched By ULA’s Inaugural Vulcan Flight
Celestis, Inc. has entered into a launch services agreement with United Launch Alliance (ULA) who will host a Celestis Memorial Spaceflight payload aboard the initial flight of ULA’s Vulcan Centaur, planned for later this year. Known as the Enterprise Flight, the Celestis mission will launch more than 150 flight capsules containing cremated remains (ashes), DNA […]
DcubeD Reveals Successful Pin Puller Use In FOSSA Systems PocketPod Deployer To Release Six Smallsats Aboard Transporter-3
DcubeD’s ride to space was the Transporter-3 mission, SpaceX’s third, dedicated, smallsat rideshare mission, launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Approximately 1 hour after liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket, deployment of FOSSA Systems’ payload was confirmed. The company based in Madrid, Spain, had launched their first six satellites for the […]
USC’s Satellite Dodona With Lockheed Martin La Jument Payloads Travel To Orbit
The University of Southern California (USC)‘s Satellite Dodona, with its novel Lockheed Martin La Jument payloads, is part of SpaceX’s Smallsat Rideshare Program and was transported to orbit via SpaceX’s Transporter 3 mission. Partner Lockheed Martin supported USC students (graduate and undergraduate) and faculty to take an internally built cubesat (measuring 30 cms. by 10 […]
Satellite Build Contract Assigned To Airbus By ESA For The Ariel Mission
The European Space Agency (ESA) has signed a contract with Airbus to build the Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey (Ariel) \mission — Ariel is the fourth, medium-class mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision program. Ariel will study the composition of exoplanets, how they formed and how they evolve, by surveying a diverse sample of about 1,000 […]