WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. (ASTM PR) — A new standard developed by ASTM International’s commercial spaceflight committee (F47) establishes a failure tolerance for suborbital vehicles specific to situations of occupant safety.

Failure tolerance, also known as fault tolerance, is the ability of a system to continue satisfying safety or operational objectives in the event one or more components fail.

“Failure tolerance provides a protective measure against inevitable uncertainties in spaceflight,” says ASTM International member Andrew Lake. “The new standard helps provide the framework for consistent occupant safety approaches across original equipment manufacturers and suppliers.”

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (NGA PR) – The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has announced a new geospatial technology lab to open at the T-REX innovation center in downtown St. Louis. The NGA lab, in collaboration with T-REX, a non-profit development facility for innovation and entrepreneurism, will advance efforts between NGA, industry and academia in the region. “We will deliver trusted GEOINT with the speed, accuracy, and precision required to hold at risk the strategic forces […]

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

As you can see, it rained in Mojave today for the first time since maybe May.

Not much came down, but it’s a sign that the rainy season has come to the High Desert along with wintery weather. The winds are howling right now and the temperature is expected to drop to 30 F (-1 C) on Sunday evening.

A Chinese Long March 6 booster launched 10 commercial Earth observation satellites for Satellogic of Argentina and three second payloads for Chinese customers on Friday.

The booster lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 11:19 a.m. Beijing Standard Time on Nov. 6. It was the fourth Long March 6 launch and the 351st flight of the Long March family of boosters.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Chinese microsat launch provider Galactic Energy conducted the maiden flight of its new Ceres-1 booster on Saturday, placing the Tianqi-11 satellite into orbit for the Apocalypse Internet of Things (IoT) constellation.

• India’s first launch of 2020 lofts 10 satellites
• ISRO has been hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic
• India typically launches five or six times per year
• Secondary payloads included four Kleos Space maritime applications satellites and four Lemur multi-mission satellites for Spire

SRIHARIKOTA, India (ISRO PR) — Today, India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its fifty first flight (PSLV-C49), successfully launched EOS-01 along with nine international customer satellites from the First Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. 

KOUROU, French Guiana (ESA PR) — Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, covers 700 square kilometres and comprises the launch range, three operational launch complexes with another under development for Ariane 6, and propellant manufacturing plants. Together they draw up to 20% of the country’s energy supplies.

With the addition of 10 new satellites, Satellogic’s fleet now provides up to four daily revisits of any point of interest

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, November 6, 2020 (Satellogic PR) — Satellogic, the first company to develop a scalable Earth observation platform with the ability to remap the entire planet at both high-frequency and high-resolution, today announced the successful dedicated launch of 10 new satellites, delivered to sun-synchronous low-Earth orbits at 3:18:50 am UTC on November 6, 2020.

SPRINGFIELD, Va. (NGA PR) – The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s primary unclassified delivery system now features small satellite commercial imagery, enabling federal government and international partners increased access to geospatial data to meet mission demands. 

The G-EGD system, first introduced in 2011, consisted of only of MAXAR/Digital Globe imagery, but the addition of Planet Federal and BlackSky Global data represents the first time that small satellite imagery has been integrated into the delivery system.

LONGUEUIL, Que. (CSA PR) — The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Virgin Galactic today, heralding the beginning of a collaborative relationship between the two  organizations. The purpose of this collaboration is to explore the possibilities of using the Virgin Galactic Spaceflight System (VSS), which offers suborbital microgravity flights, for future CSA payloads and spaceflight participants. It also aims to facilitate the exchange of information on collaboration opportunities between Virgin […]

CARLSBAD, Calif., November 5, 2020 (ViaSat PR) – Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global communications company, today announced that Viasat’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Dankberg has become Executive Chairman of the Company, a new position. He is continuing in his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Viasat, Inc. The Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Rick Baldridge, has been named President and Chief Executive Officer. These executive changes went into effect on November 3, 2020.

CHICAGO, Nov. 6, 2020 (Boeing PR) — The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) today named Jinnah Hosein as the company’s vice president of Software Engineering, effective immediately. In this newly created role, Hosein will report to Greg Hyslop, Boeing chief engineer and senior vice president of Engineering, Test & Technology, and will focus on further strengthening Boeing’s focus on software engineering across the enterprise.

“The continued advances in software makes excellence in software engineering an imperative for our business,” said Hyslop. “Jinnah will be charged with defining and leading Boeing’s strategy for software engineering, which includes providing capabilities, technologies, processes and secure and accurate systems to meet the needs of all our customers across the entire product life cycle.”