Flight VS13 was the 13th Soyuz liftoff performed from French Guiana since this vehicle’s 2011 introduction at the Spaceport. (Credit: Arianespace)

Russia continued its dominance of the global satellite launch industry in 2015, conducting 29 of 86 orbital launches over the past 12 months. It also maintained its lead in botched launches, suffering two failures and one partial failure.

(more…)

On Monday, ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan gave an address at the International Conference on Contemporary Trends in Optics and Optoelectronics. During the talk, he gave a brief review of ISRO’s successes over the past five years and a preview of missions scheduled for the next two years.

Excerpts follow after the break.

(more…)