on 22/06/2018 at 12h10
Paris and Berlin have agreed to launch a future addition to the Composante Spatiale Optique (CSO) high-resolution military reconnaissance satellite network on Ariane 6. The satellite, CSO 3, is scheduled to enter service in 2021 to improve revisit times offered by the first two platforms. The...
on 21/06/2018 at 16h26
A space debris removal technology mission called RemoveDEBRIS, led by the Surrey Space Centre (SSC) at the University of Surrey, has been launched into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS). RemoveDEBRIS is intended to demonstrate a range of innovative technologies to clean up space...
on 19/06/2018 at 11h40
ArianeGroup has successfully tested a full-scale demonstrator of the thrust chamber for an upper-stage rocket engine incorporating the newest propulsion technologies. Initial hot firing tests were performed at the DLR German Aerospace Center P3.2 test facility in Lampoldshausen. The Expander-cycle...
on 19/06/2018 at 09h40
Canada has awarded Thales Canada Phase II of the MEOSAR (Medium Earth Orbit Search and Rescue) Ground Segment contract. It will support the country’s ability to respond to distress signals under the International COSPAS-SARSAT Programme Agreement — the satellite-based system best known for...
on 18/06/2018 at 14h45
The European Space Agency (ESA) has formally given the go-ahead for completion of the Ariane 6 development programme up to full operational capability and agreed to fund industrial incentives associated with the development of Ariane 6 and the P120C solid rocket motor. The decisions were made at an...
on 13/06/2018 at 16h40
On 11th June — on the same day as the historical meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un — Japan launched an IGS-Radar all-weather military observation satellite. The platform is the 16th in the IGS (Information Gathering Satellite) series and the 7th...
on 08/06/2018 at 15h03
For the next long-term EU budget (2021-2027), the European Commission is proposing to devote €16bn to the EU Space Programme. According to Vice-President of the Commission Maroš Šefčovič : "We need to up our game. Space data can help our industries lead on the Internet of Things and...
on 06/06/2018 at 14h07
Aeolus, the European Space Agency’s wind sensing satellite, is ready for to be shipped to the launch site. It will cross the Atlantic on the Airbus vessel “Ciudad de Cádiz" to Kourou, French Guiana, where a Vega launcher will send it to orbit on 21 August. It is the first time Airbus will...
on 04/06/2018 at 16h35
SES-12, the most powerful all-electric satellite ever, was successfully launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida on 4th June. Following separation from the launcher, the satellite has completed its initialisation phase and has started electric orbit raising (EOR) operations...
on 01/06/2018 at 12h38
European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano will be commander of the International Space Station during the second part of his mission next year, when he flies to the orbital outpost for a second time. Luca was the first of ESA’s astronauts selected in 2009 to fly to the Space Station in 2013...
on 24/05/2018 at 12h45
Along with another batch of five Iridium NEXT communications satellites, the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch on 22nd May carried two German/American research satellites designed to measure Earth's gravity field. The twin satellites — built by Airbus in Friedrichshafen, Germany — will carry out the...
on 22/05/2018 at 15h55
The SpaceDataHighway system – using the EDRS-A relay satellite launched in 2016 – has achieved 10,000 successful laser connections. According to Airbus, the reliability rate has reached 99.8%, and during the first one and a half years of routine operations more than 500 terabytes of data have...
on 16/05/2018 at 16h37
The European Commission has published a contract notice for procurement of Galileo transition satellites. Tenders or requests to participate are to be submitted by 20th June. The contracting authority, the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW),...
on 15/05/2018 at 14h59
NASA plans to include the Mars Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, as part of its Mars 2020 rover mission, currently scheduled to launch in July 2020. The agency aims to demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet. Launched in August 2013 as a...
on 14/05/2018 at 17h37
At a meeting of the board of its subsidiary Telespace Participation, France's CNES space agency has selected CapDecisif Management to set up and manage CosmiCapital, a capital innovation fund designed to invest in space industry businesses and applications. Telespace Participation, whose mission is...
