Tag: Launch Vehicle Platforms
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NASA Selects SpaceX to Provide Launch Services for Space Weather Satellites
NASA has selected SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, and its Falcon 9 rocket to provide the launch service for the agency’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission, a pair of small satellites that will study space weather and how the Sun’s energy affects Earth’s magnetic environment or magnetosphere TRACERS will be an important…
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Maritime Launch Announces Commercial Suborbital Program at Spaceport Nova Scotia
Maritime Launch Services has unveiled its suborbital launch program currently scheduled to begin during the second quarter of 2024. Maritime Launch’s suborbital program called Dedicated Altitude Research and Testing (DART) is a program designed to offer flight opportunities to researchers across a wide range of mission capabilities, ranging from building and testing new concepts, high-speed…
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NASA Completes Installation of All Four Engines on Core Stage of Artemis II Moon Rocket
Teams at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans have structurally joined all four RS-25 engines onto the core stage for NASA’s Artemis II Moon rocket. The flight test is the agency’s first crewed mission under Artemis. Technicians added the first engine to NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket core stage on Sept. 11. Teams…
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Karman Space Programme Set to Launch UK’s Most Powerful Reusable Rocket
A team of university students in London is preparing to launch the most powerful reusable rocket built by a UK team. On Sunday, September 24th, the student-led Karman Space Programme (KSP) will attempt a two-stage rocket launch to test systems for reuse and recovery of the vehicle, a crucial step towards low-cost, sustainable access to…
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NASA Conducts Hot Fire Test of Third Subscale Booster for Future Artemis Missions
Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, conducted a hot fire of a 24-inch subscale solid rocket motor on Sept. 14. The test, conducted in Marshall’s East Test Area, produced more than 82,000 pounds of thrust and was part of an ongoing series of developmental tests for an upgraded booster design for…
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Millennium Space Systems Achieves Mission Readiness of VICTUS NOX Spacecraft in 37 Hours
Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing company, completed checkout and achieved operational readiness of the VICTUS NOX space vehicle just 37 hours after launch – 11 hours ahead of the 48-hour goal. This phase of a space mission typically takes weeks or months to complete. Full-mission operability comes only days after the 60-hour activation and 24-hour…
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Stoke Space Successfully Demonstrates Vertical Takeoff and Landing of Their Reusable Rocket
Stoke Space has successfully conducted a vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) developmental test flight of their reusable second-stage rocket at their test site in Moses Lake, Washington. During this test, known as Hopper2, they were able to successfully launch the Hopper test vehicle to an altitude of 30 feet and land at its planned…
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Firefly Aerospace Successfully Launches U.S. Space Force VICTUS NOX Space Mission
Firefly Aerospace, an end-to-end space transportation company, announced the company successfully launched its Alpha rocket and deployed the VICTUS NOX spacecraft following a 24-hour notice to complete final payload operations and mission preparations. Led by the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command’s (SSC) Space Safari Program Office and in close partnership with the Rocket Systems…
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Rocket Lab Secures Contract from Leidos to Launch Four HASTE Missions
Rocket Lab USA, one of the global leaders in launch services and space systems, announced it has signed a contract with Leidos to launch four HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) missions. The missions, scheduled across 2024 and 2025, will lift off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 at Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA’s…
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MaiaSpace Gains Momentum with its Reusable Mini-Launcher
As the fall season arrives, MaiaSpace looks back on key milestones reached during this past summer. On July 26, 2023, the team at MaiaSpace successfully performed a cryogenic filling test of its full-scale Upper Stage qualification model. The test took place at ArianeGroup’s test facilities in Vernon. This second stage has been designed, built, and…