Tag: Maxar
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Psyche keeps its date with an asteroid, but now it’s running in backup mode
A NASA spacecraft bound for an unexplored metal-rich asteroid has reignited its plasma thrusters, continuing its cruise deeper into the Solar System after switching to a backup fuel line. The $1.4 billion Psyche mission, built to explore an asteroid with the same name, has four electric thrusters fueled by xenon gas. Psyche’s solar-electric propulsion system…
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SpaceX launches SXM-10 satellite for SiriusXM on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
SpaceX launches its Falcon 9 rocket on June 7, 2025 at 12:54 a.m. EDT (0454 UTC) in support of the SXM-10 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now Update June 7, 1:47 a.m. EDT: SpaceX confirmed deployment of the SXM-10 satellite. SpaceX launched its first customer…
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NASA’s Psyche spacecraft hits a speed bump on the way to a metal asteroid
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft, located nearly 150 million miles from Earth on the way to an unexplored metal asteroid, has stopped firing its engines after detecting a problem in its propulsion system. NASA published an update Tuesday revealing that the robotic spacecraft shut off its plasma thrusters earlier this month. The news wasn’t widely shared until…
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Launch Roundup: Soyuz flies; New Shepard simulates lunar gravity
This week’s launch manifest is quite diverse, featuring the launches of four different rockets worldwide. Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital rocket has simulated the Moon’s gravity from just beyond the Kármán line, and Rocket Lab launched Electron for the first time this year from New Zealand. Russia launched Soyuz for the first time in 2025…
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SpaceX launches 2nd pair of Maxar’s WorldView Legion satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
A Falcon 9 rocket ascends from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying a pair of Maxar’s WorldView Legion satellites to a mid-inclination orbit. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now Update 10:57 am EDT: SpaceX confirms deployment of the second of two WorldView Legion satellites on this mission. SpaceX launched a pair of Maxar Space…
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Initial Gateway elements beginning systems integration while NASA works on a launch date
The two elements that will make up the initial Gateway capability for NASA’s Artemis campaign are getting ready for systems installations this year and next year, as the space agency reviews progress to set a new launch date. The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and Habitation and Logistics Module (HALO) are being constructed on different…
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NASA cancels a multibillion-dollar satellite servicing demo mission
NASA has canceled an over-budget, behind-schedule mission to demonstrate robotic satellite servicing technology in orbit, pulling the plug on a project that has cost $1.5 billion and probably would have cost nearly $1 billion more to get to the launch pad. The On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 1 mission, known as OSAM-1, would have grappled…
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NASA just launched the Psyche mission—no one knows what it will find
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida—A roughly 3-ton spacecraft launched Friday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin a six-year trip to an enigma in the asteroid belt, an unusual metallic world the size of Massachusetts that could hold clues about the formation of Earth and other rocky planets. This mission, named Psyche, will survey its…
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![SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launches world’s most massive communications satellite [Updated]](/blog/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/fhtrevor1.jpg)
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launches world’s most massive communications satellite [Updated]
2:45 a.m. EDT Saturday update: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy has successfully launched the Jupiter 3 communications satellite. 5:30 p.m. EDT Thursday update: The launch of SpaceX’s next Falcon Heavy rocket has been pushed back again until Friday night, following a scrub Wednesday night with about a minute left in the countdown. 12:30 a.m. EDT Thursday update: SpaceX has scrubbed…
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Arianespace launches three spacecraft, Intelsat talks satellite refresh efforts
Arianespace has successfully lifted three satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) on Tuesday from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana using the veteran Ariane 5 launcher. Liftoff occurred at the opening of a 106-minute long window that extends from 20:30-22:16 UTC. The mission delivered an advanced European meteorological satellite and two Galaxy telecommunications…