The Vega-C light launcher is set to perform its first mission for Arianespace, which will see Avio’s upgraded rocket place two Airbus Pleiades satellites into orbit.
Europe’s three leading countries in space launchers have issued a joint statement that sets the stage for further cooperation on Ariane, Vega and micro-/mini-launcher programs within the framework of the European Space Agency.
On the eve of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) ministerial council, 21 startup companies are requesting that member states approve a resolution for an open competition every time an institutional payload has to be placed into orbit.
German space startup Polaris Spaceplanes has performed the first flight of its spaceplane demonstrator built under a contract from the German defense ministry.
The approvals help pave the way for the first planned orbital launch from the UK mainland for Virgin Orbit’s “Start Me Up” mission using its air-launched LauncherOne space vehicle that will be carried by its modified Boeing 747.
In a joint technology demonstration, United Launch Alliance and NASA tested a 20-ft.-dia. inflatable heat shield that is intended to pave the way for a future rocket engine recovery system for ULA and a system for NASA to land heavy, human-class missions on Mars, among other uses.
Intelsat is turning to Switzerland-based SWISSto12 to provide a small geostationary satellite outfitted with 12 Ku-band transponders for regional communications services.
The chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission announced Nov. 3 that she would reorganize the agency to create a standalone Space Bureau to better support the needs of the growing satellite industry.
Virgin Galactic is set to return its first SpaceShipTwo spaceplane VSS Unity to test flights in the coming months following the completion of upgrade work and says it remains on track to begin the long-delayed start of commercial spaceflights in the second quarter of 2023.
Bell will supply the vehicle’s feathering system and flight control surfaces while Texas-based structures specialist Qarbon Aerospace will produce the fuselage and wing.
A triple-core Falcon Heavy, currently the most powerful rocket operating today, lifted off from a fog-shrouded Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 1 on a challenging and classified mission for the U.S. Space Force.