Falcon Heavy. (Credit: SpaceX)

LONDON, July 2, 2014 (Inmarsat PR) – Inmarsat plc (LSE: ISAT.L), the leading provider of global mobile satellite services, today announced that it has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for its S-band satellite and up to two further Inmarsat missions. Under the terms of its agreement with SpaceX, Inmarsat expects to use the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle, but will retain the possibility of using a Falcon 9 as an alternative, providing further launch flexibility.

Rupert Pearce, Inmarsat’s Chief Executive Officer said, “We believe that SpaceX has demonstrated tremendous successful progress in its launch capabilities and is now a fully-credible provider of vehicles to support geostationary missions.  We are delighted to be working with SpaceX for the launch of our S-band satellite and other potential future missions for Inmarsat.  In view of capacity constraints in the satellite launch market, Inmarsat believes that securing optionality today is an important business safeguard to mitigate future launch schedule risk.”

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A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II rocket carrying the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) payload for NASA lifted off from Space Launch Complex-2 at 2:56 a.m. PDT today. (Credit: United Launch Alliance)

Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., July 2, 2014 (ULA PR) – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II rocket carrying the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) payload for NASA lifted off from Space Launch Complex-2 at 2:56 a.m. PDT today. This launch marks the 51^st Delta II mission for NASA and Delta II’s return to flight as the first of two planned Delta II launches this year, and also the seventh ULA launch of 2014 and the 84^th since the company was formed.

“Congratulations to the NASA Launch Services Program team, JPL and all of our mission partners on the successful launch of the OCO-2 satellite,” said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice president, Atlas and Delta Programs. “It is our honor to launch this important mission that will gather the scientific data to better understand planet earth.”

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Rep. Kevin McCarthy

Jeff Foust has an interesting analysis about efforts by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to prevent the re-authorization of the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank of the United States, which has helped to finance the exports of a number of commercial space companies.

Although McCarthy has introduced legislation to streamline commercial spaceflight regulations for commercial spaceflight companies that have yet to fly any passengers, he views government-backed financing of exports that has helped profitable space companies as unnecessary.

In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” McCarthy said he would vote against reauthorization of Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank of the United States, which supports financing of exports of products and services created by U.S. companies.

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UPDATE: Here’s a copy of the lawsuit. Space News reports that the U.S. Air Force says the court should dismiss SpaceX’s protest of its 36- rocket core bulk buy from United Launch Alliance because the company filed the appeal too late: “The reason that it did not protest is obvious,” the Air Force said. “At the time the solicitation was issued, SpaceX had not completed the necessary certifying flights for […]

Vladimir Putin inside of a full-size mockup of Russia’s six-passenger “Rus” spacecraft. (Credit: RSC Energia)

Bloomberg has an interesting report on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s economic strategy, which is characterized by the type of centralized government control that we’re now seeing imposed upon the space industry.

For all his vows to modernize and diversify the economy, though, Russia remains a nuclear-armed petrostate and Putin’s remedy for growth now is more, not less, government control.

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Penn. (Penn State Lunar Lion PR) — This summer will be a very exciting time for the Lunar Lion Team as it recently received the first of its new H202 engines.  These engines represent a transition from a previous bipropellant LOX/Ethanol propulsion system to a monopropellant one using H2O2.  The previous design for a terrestrial rocket-powered prototype called for using a series of pencil thrusters capable of putting […]

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA’s aerospace industry partners are taking their designs and operational plans for the agency’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) through a series of comprehensive tests, evaluations and review boards this summer as they move through important milestones – all with an eye on launching people into orbit from American soil by 2017.

To meet milestones established in Space Act Agreements with NASA, the companies are completing specific assessments such as materials stress tests, engine firings and analysis, and system tests. The companies’ engineers use data gathered from these tests to refine the design, then NASA’s team uses the data to ensure the tests satisfy milestone objectives that provide confidence a spacecraft system or program is progressing toward its goals.

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It looks like it will be week before the Russians can try to launch their Angara 1.2 rocket again after a last-minute scrub on Friday: A defect in the drainage valve of the liquid oxygen tank detected during pre-launch tests led to cancellation of the first test launch of the light-class Angara carrier rocket 19 seconds prior to the engine refueling, experts told Interfax-AVN after probing an emergency during Angara’s […]

Masten Space Systems of Mojave, Calif. has won a $3 million contract for work on DARPA’s XS-1 program, according to an award announcement at www.FedBizOpps.gov. The objective of the XS-1 program “is to demonstrate a reusable first stage launch vehicle capable of carrying and deploying an upper stage that inserts 3,000 to 5,000 lb. payloads into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), designed for less than $5M per launch for an operational […]

WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — The Commercial Spaceflight Federation submitted the following comments to the State Department regarding the interim Category XV rule of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). June 27, 2014 Via E-Mail ([email protected]) Directorate of Defense Trade Controls Office of Defense Trade Controls Policy U.S. Department of State PM/DDTC, SA-1, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20522-0112 ATTN: Regulatory Change, USML Category XV RIN: 1400–AD33 The Commercial Spaceflight Federation […]