Russia launched three times last week as Japan saw its only flight of the year fail with the loss of eight spacecraft. China launched twice, SpaceX flew once, and the world hit 140 launches with 2.5 months left in the year.

It appears that Stratolaunch will fly the Roc aircraft with its structurally complete Talon-A hypersonic test vehicle, TA-0, attached for the first time this week. There are NOTAMs indicating the closure of the Mojave Air and Space Port’s Runway 12-30 on Monday and Tuesday. My best guess is Stratolaunch will conduct a captive carry flight to test how the giant twin fuselage aircraft handles with a payload attached under its […]

– First of two satellites to be placed at Eutelsat’s flagship 13-degree East position
– Capex optimization with replacement of three existing satellites by two, and application of design-to-cost policy
– Bringing newest resources and enhanced services at Eutelsat EMEA’S leading TV neighbourhood
– First satellite based on the electrical propulsion Eurostar Neo platform fostering innovation and competitiveness in the European space industry

PARIS (Eutelsat PR) — Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) announced that EUTELSAT HOTBIRD 13F satellite was successfully launched into Geostationary Transfer Orbit by American space launch provider SpaceX using a Falcon 9 rocket that lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA at 01.22 pm Eastern time on October 15^th (corresponding to 5.22 am UTC and 7.22 am CET on October 15^th).

LONG BEACH, Calif. (Rocket Lab PR) — Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a leading launch and space systems company, today announced it has been selected by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to supply solar panels that will power NASA’s shoe-box-sized mobile robots as part of the Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Explorers (CADRE) program.

The solar panels will use Rocket Lab’s inverted metamorphic multi-junction (IMM) solar cells that are more efficient and lighter weight than standard multi-junction space solar cells and provide the exact capabilities needed for the program. The IMM cells were developed by SolAero Technologies Inc, a leading space solar power company acquired by Rocket Lab in January 2022.

Virgin Galactic hosted a weekend retreat for its ticket holders in Wyoming. (Lovely state, BTW.) Based on the video above, the gathering was focused on getting attendees excited about how awesome it will be once Virgin Galactic gets around to flying them. Commercial flights are currently scheduled to begin in mid-2023. Some customers bought tickets way back in 2005, so they’ve been waiting for 17 years. Virgin Galactic billed the […]

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 astronauts aboard the Dragon spacecraft safely splashed down Friday off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, completing the agency’s fourth commercial crew mission to the International Space Station. The international crew of four spent 170 days in orbit.

SpaceX is targeting Friday, October 14 for launch of the Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F mission to a geosynchronous transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The 116-minute launch window opens at 11:26 p.m. ET (03:26 UTC on October 15). A backup launch opportunity is available on Saturday, October 15 with the same window. The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched […]

Skyrora reports its latest launch attempt resulted in the company’s Skylark L suborbital rocket crashing into the Norwegian Sea 500 meters away from its launch site in Langanes, Iceland.

LONDON, 12 October 2022 (OneWeb PR) — OneWeb, the global satellite communications company, today announced the launch of Innovation Challenge 2022: connectivity and beyond – an invitation to create innovative applications, products, solutions, and technologies that will advance global technology by utilising the full potential of a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation.

The challenge offers an open invitation to engineers, industrial partners, academics, and research professionals from around the world to redefine what solutions and applications are possible through OneWeb’s network coverage across ground, sea, and space. This challenge also offers the opportunity for European and Canadian partners to join the European Space Agency (ESA) Sunrise Partnership project, pending eligibility.

ALAMEDA, Calif., October 13, 2022 (Astra Space PR) – Astra Space, Inc. (“Astra”) (Nasdaq: ASTR) today announced that it has reached an agreement with Astroscale Holdings Inc (“Astroscale”), the market leader in satellite servicing and long-term orbital sustainability across all orbits, to provide Astra Spacecraft Engines™ for its space sustainability spacecraft platform, ELSA-M, that can safely and responsibly capture and retire multiple client satellites in a single mission.

The ELSA-M satellite servicer will be designed and optimized to remove multiple pieces of debris from LEO in a single orbital mission. The development of the ELSA-M commercial service is supported by the UK Space Agency and European Space Agency as part of the ESA Sunrise program.

NOORDWIJK, The Netherlands (ESA PR) — Following its unanimous approval by ESA Council on 17 March, the Association Agreement between ESA and the Slovak Republic was signed on 14 June at ESA ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

Delegations from the 22 Member States witnessed the signing ceremony, with ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and the former State Secretary in charge of space affairs within the Slovakian Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport, Mr Ľudovít Paulis.

LITTLETON, Colorado, October 13, 2022 (NewSpace Global PR) – For the first time in 50 years, humans are preparing to venture out beyond Earth orbit to the moon. This new era will bring exciting new commercial opportunities from Earth orbit to the lunar surface and beyond.

A new report, “Cislunar Market Opportunities – In-Space Business within the Earth-Moon System,” provides an in-depth analysis of this emerging economy. The 161-page report provides detailed information on programs being undertaken by leading companies and space agencies around the world. There are in-depth analyses of commercial prospects as well as resources sections with links to official websites, stories, reports and press releases.