Category Archives: Space Today

Japanese satellite operator Sky Perfect JSAT has ordered a spacecraft from Airbus for the first time, choosing the European aerospace giant to build Superbird-9 for a launch in 2024. Superbird-9 will be based on Airbus’ reconfigurable payload platform OneSat, which can steer and reassign beams for different customers and services. JSAT said the geostationary (GEO)Read More

Arianespace successfully launched another 36 satellites for low Earth orbit broadband operator OneWeb, bringing its total in-orbit constellation to 146 satellites. The mission marks the second launch for OneWeb under its new owners, the British government and Indian telecom company Bharti Global, which bought the venture out of bankruptcy in November. It is also theRead More

Kencoa Aerospace Corp., a South Korean aircraft assembler and parts supplier that has NASA, SpaceX and Blue Origin as clients, is planning to expand its US parts manufacturing plant in Georgia. The company raised 30 billion won ($26.6 million) in February by issuing convertible bonds to domestic institutional investors and will use a third ofRead More

The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency will solicit bids for an upcoming procurement of up to 150 satellites to be launched in late 2024, agency director Derek Tournear said. A request for proposals will be issued in August and multiple contracts could be awarded before the end of the year, Tournear said at a Potomac OfficersRead More

NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, approximately $93.3 million to deliver a suite of 10 science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon in 2023. The delivery, planned for Mare Crisium, a low-lying basin on the Moon’s near side, will investigate a variety of lunar surface conditions and resources. Such investigations willRead More

China carried out its fourth orbital space launch, sending a large satellite towards geostationary orbit from the hills of Xichang in the southwest of the country. A Long March 3B rocket lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, sending the TJSW-6 communication technology experiment satellite into orbit. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC),Read More

SpaceX has been awarded a $150.4 million contract to launch as many as 28 satellites for the Pentagon’s space agency, the Defense Department announced in December. The contract is to launch a mix of small and medium spacecraft of different sizes that the Space Development Agency is acquiring from multiple vendors. That includes 20 data-relayRead More

Delegates from the US Embassy, including Thomas Ulrich Brechbhul, Counselor of the US Department of State and John Rakolta Jr., U.S. Ambassador to the UAE Duba, have visited the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai. The delegates met with Yousuf Hamad AlShaibani, Director General of MBRSC and Salem AlMarri, Assistant Director General forRead More

China is pressing ahead with the Long March 9 super heavy launch vehicle for crewed lunar, robotic deep space exploration and space infrastructure. The massive rocket is in the research and development stage with a test launch planned for around 2030, said Xu Hongliang, secretary-general of the China National Space Administration, speaking at the WenchangRead More

SpaceX recently launched the first of a new generation of Dragon cargo spacecraft, carrying experiments and supplies to the International Space Station. The SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex (LC) 39A after a one-day delay caused by weather. It deployed the Dragon cargo spacecraft nearly 12 minutes after liftoff. TheRead More