After numerous delays caused by bad weather over Florida, Arabsat’s latest satellite, BADR-8 launched at 3.25am UTC on May 27th. The near-5 tonnes satellite was finally lofted into a geostationary transfer orbit having suffered delays by thick cloud and strong winds and even on the day of lift-off the launch teams were suffering anxieties over […]
Once upon a time there was Sea Launch, a US/Norway/Russia/Ukraine consortium that used a converted oil-rig plus a support ship, to equatorially launch rockets and their satellites from the sea and using Zenit rockets. Sea Launch operated from 1999 to 2014 and successfully launched 32 rockets, although suffered a total of three complete failures and […]
SpaceX regularly reuses its Falcon 9 booster rockets. Reuse levels of eight or 10 time are now fairly routine. Indeed, some boosters have now flow 13 to 15 times. William Gerstenmaier, VP/Build & Flight Reusability at SpaceX, now says that booster refurbishing is taking place to extend the life of a typical booster to a […]
Florida-based Terran Orbital is having a tough time. Following on from its May 15th quarterly report its share price dropped by almost 18 per cent, not helped by concerns that a major client might also be suffering a cash squeeze. May 16th saw a modest recovery of 1.6 per cent in its share price. Terran […]
Brightline, a train operator in Florida, is installing SpaceX’s Starlink broadband by satellite service on 10 of its trains. The services connect major cities throughout the US state. The announcement comes following Starlink gaining regulatory approval to deliver its signals to moving vehicles. The ‘free’ service is initially available on five trains serving Miami and […]
Arabsat’s latest satellite, its impressive BADR-8, has been flown from the Airbus Space & Defence facility in Toulouse, France, to its launch pad in Florida. The launch, towards the end of this month, will be handled by SpaceX. BADR-8 is a latest next generation geostationary Eurostar Neo satellite. The satellite will provide connectivity over Europe, […]
Intelsat’s latest addition to its fleet, its I-40e ‘epic’ craft has arrived at the SpaceX launch site in Florida. Launch time is 04.39am UTC on April 7th, subject to the usual weather considerations and technical limitations. SpaceX will use one of its Falcon 9 rockets. The satellite is an ‘Epic’ version and will join the […]
On April 2nd, ESPN will broadcast the inaugural Pickleball Slam featuring tennis legends Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, John McEnroe and Andy Roddick. Created and produced by Horizon Sports & Experiences (HS&E) and InsideOut Sports & Entertainment (ISE), the 2023 event will take place at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in […]
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 […]
SpaceX added 72 of its Starlink satellites into their transfer orbits a few days ago, as well as ferrying four astronauts to the International Space Station. The Starlink launches – from both its Florida and California launch sites – included 21 of the new ‘V2-Mini’ versions which have four-times the capacity thanks to more powerful […]