SpaceX successfully added another 51 of its Starlink broadband-by-satellite craft in a flawless launch on May 10th from the Vandenberg Space Force Base. Following the launch, the Falcon 9 booster successfully landed on a floating barge, ‘Of Course I Still Love You’, ready for refurbishment and reuse. It was the third launch and landing for […]
SES Space & Defense, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, will provide satellite communications capabilities in support of the US Army Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WINT-T) training activities. The five-year Commercial Satellite Communications (COMSATCOM) Transponded Capacity (CTC) contract worth $27.54 million has been awarded by the US Space Force’s Commercial SATCOM Communication Office (CSCO) through Defense Information […]
Spaceflight’s Sherpa-LTC2 orbital transfer vehicle, launched just a month ago on September 4th, is struggling in orbit. It seems the rescue tug’s on-board thrusters may be the problem. A SpaceX rocket successfully launched the tug to an initial orbit of 310 kms altitude but the plan was to use its on-board chemical thrusters to get […]
Two years ago, French president Emmanuel Macron said he would create a Space Force. On October 12th, he backed up his promise with a €30 billion commitment for investment in France’s high-tech sectors. “We want to have Elon Musks in France,” he told an audience at the Elysée Palace. Macron said that Musk and his […]
The US Space Force has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to the world’s emerging Low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellite operators (and would-be operators) for guidance on how the Space Force might buy broadband LEO services in the future. The Space Force’s Commercial Satellite Communications Office, acts as a centralised operation which acquires satellite-based communications […]
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is reaching even further into the sky with a new division called Aerospace & Satellite Solutions. A report in the WSJ says that it will focus on space projects for a variety of customers including NASA, the US military and Space Force and important aerospace companies such as Lockheed Martin and […]
SpaceX is due to carry out the launch of a military satellites for the US Space Force on June 30th. The launch is pretty routine for SpaceX and its Falcon 9 rocket, but despite having carried out 86 similar launches (and which included returning 47 to either solid ground or one of Elon Musk’s floating […]