With around ten minutes to go (at 14:15 BST) SpaceX announced its Starship test launch was delayed because of a faulty (possibly frozen) pressure valve. The count continued to T-10 secs to for a ‘wet’ dress rehearsal – so known because the propellant tanks were fully loaded. Elon Musk, speaking during a telecast, had previosuly […]
There are many satellite super-constellations under development. Elon Musk gets plenty of headlines with his SpaceX Starlink system, followed by the Jeff Bezos Kuiper Project, the rapidly growing SES O3b group of satellites and existing orbital services from the likes of Iridium. But there are others, and a report from management consultants McKinsey says that […]
O3b’s latest pair of mPOWER satellites have left their Boeing manufacturing site and have been successfully delivered to the SpaceX launch site in Florida. The two (the third and fourth of the new fleet) will be launched into a medium Earth orbit (MEO) towards the end of April. The current expected date is April 28th, […]
Elon Musk says his giant Starship could make its debut flight during the third week of April. Observers suggest April 20th is a dependable target date, subject to the usual weather and technical considerations. Work at the launch site has been happening for months and intensified over the past 10 days, with Musk saying that […]
April 7th saw SpaceX launch Intelsat’s latest satellite, a high throughput craft dubbed IS-40e, into its geostationary transfer orbit. IS-40e also carried a NASA Earth-observation module. The SpaceX launch used a Falcon 9 booster that had already flown three times previously (“flight proven” in the SpaceX parlance). The booster landed flawlessly on the floating barge […]
SpaceX is again knocking on the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) door and has made a fresh request to launch an overall total of 29,988 new satellites. The FCC has already approved 7,500 of the planned 29,988 but SpaceX is now being more specific with its scheme and operational methods. In essence, SpaceX wants to create […]
Elon Musk’s giant Starship combination of rocket plus Super Heavy booster looks likely to be launched in the next few days. The importance for the satellite community is its potential capacity to launch far more Starlink satellites simultaneously – or larger/heavier commercial and NASA satellites – into orbit with a single launch. There are other […]
On March 29th, SpaceX’s Mission 5-10 added another 56 satellites to its constellation. The launch took place from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 4.01pm (Florida-time). The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched Crew-5, GPS III Space Vehicle 06, and Inmarsat I-6 F2. This was […]
Rivada Networks wants to build and launch 600 satellites in a mega-constellation. However, the business is on a tight timetable as far as its launch schedule is concerned and badly needs the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to relax its rules. The first batch of satellites, numbering 300, are already on order. Rivada had hoped that […]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its 20th flight of the year on March 24th, carrying 56 Starlink broadband satellites. The Falcon 9’s booster stage came back to Earth as planned 8.5 minutes after liftoff, making a pinpoint touchdown off the Florida coast on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. It was the 10th launch and […]