Tag: Airbus Defense and Space
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UK government commits $500 million in bid to rescue bankrupt OneWeb
A OneWeb satellite inside the company’s factory in Florida. Credit: OneWeb Satellites The UK government and India’s Bharti Global mobile telecom operator announced Friday they placed the winning bid to purchase OneWeb, which filed for bankruptcy in March while in the early stages of deploying a megaconstellation of broadband satellites. The $1 billion purchase agreement…
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Rocket Lab plans next launch Saturday, closes in on first mission from Virginia
The Electron rocket for Rocket Lab’s next mission. Credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab is readying for a launch from its New Zealand spaceport Saturday (U.S. time) with seven commercial satellites from Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom, while teams at Wallops Island, Virginia, move closer to Rocket Lab’s first launch there as soon…
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South Korean satellite shipped to Cape Canaveral for Falcon 9 launch next month
Artist’s concept of a Eurostar E3000 satellite in orbit. The Anasis 2 spacecraft built for the South Korean government is based on the Airbus Eurostar E3000 satellite platform, but other design details have not been disclosed. Credit: Airbus A communications satellite built for the South Korean military arrived at Cape Canaveral this week from an…
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Scientists optimistic planetary probes won’t face coronavirus launch delays
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated to correct spelling of Hal Levison’s name. Artist’s concept of the Lucy spacecraft flying by Trojan asteroids. Credit: NASA/SWRI Launches of interplanetary missions can only depart Earth when the positions of the planets are just right, and officials managing the development of probes set for launch in 2021 and 2022 to explore asteroids…
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BepiColombo flies by Earth, completing first leg of journey to Mercury
A sequence of images captured by one of the selfie cameras on BepiColombo shortly before the closest approach to Earth. Credit: ESA/BepiColombo/MTM Working with a reduced staff due to coronavirus-related restrictions, European Space Agency flight controllers monitored the BepiColombo spacecraft during a flyby of Earth on Friday, a maneuver that used our planet’s gravity to…
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Pandemic prompts few changes to busy month on space station
The International Space Station’s robotic arm and Dextre, a two-handed robotic aide, extract the European Bartolomeo platform from the trunk of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft in this March 25 photo. Credit: NASA U.S. and Russian vehicles ferrying crews and cargo will continue traveling to and from the International Space Station this month, sustaining the orbiting…
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Lean team readies ESA’s Mercury-bound BepiColombo for planetary flyby
Artist’s illustration of the BepiColombo spacecraft during its gravity assist flyby of Earth. Credit: ESA/ATG Medialab One job deemed essential by the European Space Agency during the coronavirus pandemic involves shepherding the BepiColombo spacecraft through a high-speed flyby of planet Earth next month, an immovable event on the $1.8 billion mission’s seven-year journey to Mercury.…
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OneWeb files for bankruptcy
Illustration of OneWeb’s satellite network. Credit: Airbus OneWeb — three launches into a series of nearly 20 missions to deploy 650 satellites to provide global Internet service — has announced it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and reduced its workforce after unsuccessful negotiations for more cash from its largest investor. Headquartered in London with…
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Soyuz rocket successfully launches 34 more OneWeb satellites
A Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with 34 more OneWeb satellites. Credit: Roscosmos A Soyuz rocket and Fregat upper stage lifted off Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, delivering 34 more satellites to orbit for OneWeb’s space-based Internet network in the company’s second launch this year. The Russian…
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Amid bankruptcy reports, OneWeb plans launch of 34 more satellites
The base of the Soyuz-2.1b booster set to launch 34 more OneWeb satellites is seen Wednesday as the rocket was erected vertical on its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: Roscosmos OneWeb is gearing up for launch of 34 more satellites for its broadband Internet network Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in…