Tag: CubeSats
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China lofts earthquake research craft with cluster of smaller satellites
A Long March 2D rocket lifted off Friday with seven satellites. Credit: Xinhua/Wang Jiangbo A Chinese Long March 2D rocket successfully delivered seven satellites into a 300-mile-high (500-kilometer) orbit Friday, boosting international missions to measure seismic signals that could help predict future earthquakes, take detailed imagery of planet Earth and test compact camera, propulsion and…
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Souped-up sounding rocket lifts off from Japan with tiny satellite
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) on Feb. 3 after confirmation of successful flight. Video credit: JAXA A modified sounding rocket originally designed to loft science instruments on high-altitude suborbital arcs blasted off Saturday from the Uchinoura Space Center in southern Japan and soared into orbit to become the world’s smallest satellite launcher. The…
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Soyuz rocket fires into space with 11 satellites
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated with confirmation of launch success. A Soyuz rocket crowned by a Fregat upper stage carrying 11 Russian, German and U.S. satellites into orbit lifted off Thursday from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East, the first flight from the country’s newest spaceport since a failure in November. The Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off…
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Testbed for Canadian data relay network successfully launched from China
A Long March 11 rocket lifted off at 0412 GMT Friday (11:12 p.m. EST Thursday) with a pathfinder satellite for Kepler Communications and five Chinese payloads. Credit: Kepler Communications A nanosatellite built in Scotland for Kepler Communications, a Toronto company planning a 140-satellite global data relay network, rode to orbit Friday with five Chinese satellites…
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Rocket Lab delivers nanosatellites to orbit on first successful test launch
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket fires off its launch pad on Mahia Peninsula. Credit: Kieran Fanning/Rocket Lab Rocket Lab’s commercial Electron launcher soared into orbit from New Zealand on Saturday, U.S. time, a success that puts the company’s founder said will hasten dedicated, frequent and affordable rides to space for small satellites. The achievement caps four…
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Rocket Lab delivers nanosatellites to orbit on first successful test launch
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket fires off its launch pad on Mahia Peninsula. Credit: Kieran Fanning/Rocket Lab Rocket Lab’s commercial Electron launcher soared into orbit from New Zealand on Saturday, U.S. time, a success that puts the company’s founder said will hasten dedicated, frequent and affordable rides to space for small satellites. The achievement caps four…
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Video: Rocket Lab achieves orbit on historic launch from New Zealand
Video credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket took off from a picturesque commercial launch base in New Zealand on Saturday, U.S. time, on a test flight that delivered three CubeSats into orbit on the company’s first successful satellite deployment. The 55-foot-tall (17-meter) rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula, a…
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Video: Rocket Lab achieves orbit on historic launch from New Zealand
Video credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket took off from a picturesque commercial launch base in New Zealand on Saturday, U.S. time, on a test flight that delivered three CubeSats into orbit on the company’s first successful satellite deployment. The 55-foot-tall (17-meter) rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula, a…
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Rocket Lab test launch halted by ship traffic, deteriorating weather
Rocket Lab’s second Electron rocket vents oxygen vapors during a scrubbed launch attempt Friday, U.S. time (Saturday in New Zealand). Credit: Rocket Lab An attempt to place three small satellites in orbit on an experimental test flight was halted Friday after two ships strayed into a keep-out zone offshore Rocket Lab’s privately-owned launch base in…
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Live coverage: Rocket Lab’s commercial launcher reaches orbit for the first time
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. Rocket’s live video webcast begins around 15 minutes prior to launch, and will be available on this page.