Tag: French Guiana
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PLD Space Invests €35 Million in Launch Complex at Guiana Space Centre
PLD Space has announced plans to invest €35 million ($40.8 million) in the development of its launch complex at the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in Kourou, French Guiana. The investment will be carried out between 2025 and 2026 and is intended to support the company’s upcoming Miura 5 launch vehicle program. First Private Operator at…
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Launch Preview: Falcon 9, Electron, and Vega C launch missions alongside Starship Flight 12
Six launches are scheduled worldwide during the next week, with the 12th flight of SpaceX’s Starship serving as the headline. Outside of Starship, SpaceX is scheduled to launch three Starlink missions on Falcon 9 from the company’s launch facilities in California and Florida. Internationally, Avio launched the joint European and Chinese SMILE mission atop a…
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Vega C launches SMILE to study Earth’s magnetosphere
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) latest science mission, Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE), launched on a four-stage Vega C rocket from French Guiana on Tuesday morning. SMILE, a collaboration between ESA, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and multiple academic and commercial organizations, will capture the first global soft X-ray images of Earth’s…
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Arianespace Launches 32 Amazon Satellites on Ariane 6 as Constellation Deployment Continues
Arianespace has successfully launched 32 satellites for Amazon’s low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation, marking its second mission for the program using the Ariane 6 rocket. The launch took place at 08:57 UTC from the ELA-4 launch complex in French Guiana, with the rocket flying in its Ariane 64 configuration, which includes four solid-fuel boosters. The…
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Arianespace Launches Ariane 64 on Inaugural Flight Carrying Amazon Satellites
Europe’s new heavy-lift rocket, Ariane 64, completed its inaugural launch successfully, signaling a major step in the continent’s effort to strengthen independent access to space while entering the global commercial launch market. Operated by Arianespace, the four-booster variant of the Ariane 6 family lifted off from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana, carrying 32 satellites for…
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French startup Latitude targets 2026 for first launch while following market-driven approach
French small-launch startup Latitude is pushing toward a maiden flight of its Zephyr rocket within the next 18 months, prioritizing speed-to-market and manufacturing efficiency over reusability to capture Europe’s dedicated smallsat launch market. In an interview with NASA Spaceflight’s “Europe’s Future in Space” series, Latitude founder and executive chairman Stanislas Maximin provided an in-depth look…
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MaiaSpace Signs Multi-Launch Deal With Eutelsat for OneWeb Constellation
French launch vehicle developer MaiaSpace has signed a multi-launch agreement with satellite operator Eutelsat to support the expansion of the OneWeb low Earth orbit broadband constellation, the company said on Jan. 15. The agreement will see MaiaSpace conduct multiple launches to deploy OneWeb satellites into low Earth orbit and could represent the majority of Maia’s…
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Arianespace to Launch First Amazon LEO Satellites on Ariane 6 in February 2026
Arianespace said it will launch 32 low Earth orbit satellites for Amazon on Feb. 12, 2026, marking the start of Europe’s role in deploying Amazon’s broadband satellite constellation and the first flight of the Ariane 6 rocket in its full-power configuration. The mission, designated VA267 and also known as LE-01 for Amazon LEO, will lift…
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Ariane 6 launches the Sentinel-1D Earth observation satellite
Arianespace, Europe’s long-standing primary launch provider, flew the Sentinel-1D Earth observation satellite aboard the third Ariane 6 launch of 2025. The flight, only the fourth ever flown by the Ariane 6, successfully launched on Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 21:02 UTC from ELA-4 at the Centre Spatial Guyanais in Kourou, French Guiana. All Ariane 6 flights…
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Launch Roundup: Vega retired after final launch; Polaris Dawn lift off
This week, rockets will launch from all over the globe. China’s CASC sent a Chang Zheng 4B on its 50th successful mission to start the week. The final launch of Arianespace’s Vega rocket went off without a hitch. Polaris Dawn launched four private astronauts to low-Earth orbit, during which the world’s first private EVA out…