Commercial Space

Arianespace is to operate its first rideshare mission for nano and microsatellites thanks to a Vega launch from Kourou, French Guiana, at 9:51 p.m. EDT on Sept. 1.

Turkey’s Roketsan has opened a new facility to support the development of a national satellite launcher.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral AFS on Aug. 30, sending an Argentine remote sensing satellite into a polar orbit, a flightpath from Florida that had not been used since 1969.

Rocket Lab’s Electron small satellite launcher returned to flight on Aug. 30, sending a 220-lb. (100-kg) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite into orbit for Capella Space, a San Francisco-based information services company.

Launch companies Orbex and Skyrora are gearing up fo launch from UK shores in 2022, as long as spaceports and regulations are in place.

The UK is facing competition from sites in Norway, Sweden and the Azores for smallsat launch from Europe.

The report calls on Congress to “enact, without delay, appropriations and any required authorities" for the Office of Space Commerce "to build this critical capability with requisite personnel, office infrastructure and authorities.”

Resources like the vast quantities of water ice believed to reside within shadowed craters at the Moon’s south and north poles promise to reduce the costs of initial exploration substantially.

Universal rocket modules for the Angara A5 heavy launch vehicle have been sent by train to the Plesetsk military spaceport in preparation for the rocket family's first liftoff since 2014.

The mission set a SpaceX record for reuse of a Falcon 9 first stage.

Following their successful Demo-2 test flight, NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than Oct. 23 for the first operational commercial launch of astronauts to the International Space Station.

An Ariane 5 rocket carrying the second Northrop Grumman Mission Extension Vehicle along with U.S. and Japanese telecommunications satellites successfully lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana, late Aug. 15.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

As public companies reported their latest quarterly results, one segment stood out for its near-universal positivity: space.

The mission’s true measure is not just science, but to lure youth to careers in tech.

Northrop Grumman and Blue Origin hoped to wrest contracts from incumbents ULA and SpaceX.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 7 carrying 57 new Starlink broadband satellites—all outfitted with visors to cut Sun glint that interferes with astronomical observations—and two BlackSky Global imaging satellites.

Two NASA astronauts return from extended SpaceX flight test to the ISS.

This week, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Benhken splashed down in their SpaceX Dragon capsule in the Gulf of Mexico after two months at the

NRO’s new approach to satellites; Russia’s S-70 acceleration; defining “Attritable” in dollar terms; Collins’ training device.

The U.S. Space Force’s 30th Space Wing and entities in California have entered into an agreement to develop a spaceport and boost commercial launch activity at Vandenberg AFB on the state’s Pacific coast.

SpaceX will fly a pair of SES’s new satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket in 2022, with an option for a second flight for an undisclosed third satellite. ULA will launch another two SES spacecraft on an Atlas V, also in 2022, SES announced.

The odds of repurposing the satellites for GNSS are limited.

A prototype Mars-class reusable spaceship developed by SpaceX took a nearly 500-ft (150 m) hop off a launch stand near Brownsville, Texas, on Aug. 4, marking the company’s first successful Starship test flight in a year.

Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken praised the NASA/SpaceX team behind their test flight and expressed hope the public/private partnership continues to thrive.