On Sunday, September 21 at 6:53 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 launched 28 Starlink smallsats to low-Earth orbit to join the Starlink constellation from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This was the 11th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-9, RRT-1, Firefly […]
SpaceX sends Starlink Group 10-27 smallsats from Florida
Pakistan halts broadband direct-from satellite
India has been reported to be slowing down its permissions for the likes of Starlink, OneWeb, Kuiper and SES/Jio to start services. Now it seems Pakistan – no friend of India – is also stuck in what has been described as “bureaucratic limbo”. Evidently, various Pakistani federal institutions are creating obstacles, stalling the companies’ plans […]
SpaceX to launch NROL-48 secret mission on Monday from California
SpaceX is targeting Monday, September 22 for a Falcon 9 launch of the NROL-48 mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The one-hour launch window opens at 10:23 a.m. PT. If needed, a backup opportunity is available on Tuesday, September 23 starting at 10:10 a.m. PT. Monday […]
GA-ASI UAS offerings pass 9 million flight hours
Ongoing flight operations of the new YFQ-42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft helped General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., set a new company record, pushing past a total of 9 million flight hours. GA-ASI has been tracking total flight hours across its fleet of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) since the company’s inception 33 years ago. The company’s line […]
Forrester’s Digest: Telesat withdraws plan for extra satellites
Canada-based satellite operator Telesat has formally cancelled its plans for an additional 1,671 low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites. Telesat has already admitted that its important geostationary DTH business is under pressure and is betting its business mainly on a new LEO fleet, called Lightspeed. Lightspeed will comprise about 200 satellites. The now cancelled 1,671 craft […]
NASA selects Blue Origin to deliver VIPER Rover to the moon’s South Pole
As part of the agency’s Artemis campaign, NASA has awarded Blue Origin a CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) task order with an option to deliver a rover to the moon’s South Pole region. NASA’s VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) will search for volatile resources, such as ice, on the lunar surface and collect science […]
Maxar partners with AIDC to accelerate the resilience of Taiwan’s UAV industry against GPS interference
Maxar Intelligence has partnered with Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) to deploy the Maxar Raptor software suite across Taiwan’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry, helping the country accelerate the resilience and reliability of autonomous systems in GPS- and GNSS-denied environments. Raptor is a vision-based software suite that enables autonomous drones to navigate precisely and […]
AV awarded price option for 2 BADGER phased array systems for SCAR Program
AeroVironment, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV) has received a new, firm‑fixed‑price (FFP) contract option with the U.S. Space Force Space (USSF) Rapid Capabilities Office for the delivery of two BADGER phased array antenna systems to support the Satellite Communication Augmentation Resource (SCAR) program. This award represents the first FFP option being executed against the SCAR Other Transaction […]
SpaceX sends Starlink Group 17-12 smallsats into the California fog
On Friday, September 19 at 9:31 a.m. PT, Falcon 9 launched 24 Starlink smallsats to low-Earth orbit joining the Starlink constellation from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This was the 10th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched NROL-126, Transporter-12, SPHEREx, NROL-57, […]
Infinite Orbits selects Simera Sense to supply space-based SSA payload with Orbit Guard™ mission as part of the CNES and France 2030 program.
Simera Sense and Infinite Orbits have signed a contract to incorporate Simera Sense’s optical payload onto an Infinite Orbits mission—this collaboration is part of the French governmental program named France 2030 and led by the French Space Agency (CNES). Under the agreement, Simera Sense will supply its commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) optical payload as a complimentary […]