Tag: Satellite
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Sonic-boom UFO show! SpaceX launches satellite, lands rocket booster in California
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted out this picture of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s contrail, glowing in Southern California’s skies after sunset. “Nope, definitely not aliens,” Garcetti wrote. (@MayorOfLA via Twitter) SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket executed its first on-land touchdown on the West Coast tonight after sending Argentina’s SAOCOM 1A satellite into orbit, putting…
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Stratolaunch’s plane spotted from space
Stratolaunch’s giant airplane sits outside its hangar at California’s Mojave Air and Space Port in a picture captured on Sept. 22 by DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-1 satellite from an altitude of more than 300 miles. Click on the image for a larger version. (Satellite Image ©2018 DigitalGlobe, a Maxar Company) How big is the world’s biggest airplane?…
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Boeing seals the deal on its acquisition of Millennium Space’s satellite operation
An artist’s conception shows Millennium Space Systems’ Altair satellite. (Millennium Illustration) News Brief: As promised, Boeing has completed its acquisition of California-based Millennium Space Systems, a provider of small-satellite solutions. Millennium, which has about 260 employees, will operate as a subsidiary of Boeing Phantom Works. When the acquisition plan was announced in August, Boeing said…
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100th launch of Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket sends a pair of telecom satellites into orbit
News Brief: The milestone 100th launch of Europe’s heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket put two telecommunications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit today. The rocket rose from Arianespace’s launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, at 7:38 p.m. local time (3:38 p.m. PT), after a 45-minute delay. The dual payloads were the Boeing-built Horizons-3e satellite, which will provide…
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Final Delta 2 rocket launch puts NASA’s ICESat-2 satellite in orbit to monitor ice
A United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket rises from its launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying NASA’s ICESAT-2 satellite into orbit. (NASA via YouTube) NASA kicked off its ICESat-2 mission to monitor our planet’s ice sheets from space using a laser-scanning satellite this morning, with a launch that marked the end…
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Boeing leads $10 million funding round for BridgeSat laser communications venture
BridgeSat uses optical systems to send data to orbiting satellites. (BridgeSat / Boeing Illustration) Boeing HorizonX Ventures is leading a $10 million investment round to boost BridgeSat, a Denver-based satellite communications company that aims to use laser technology for ground-to-space data connectivity. Founded in 2015, BridgeSat is developing a network of optical ground stations and…
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With Spaceflight’s help, LeoStella moves ahead with Seattle-area satellite factory
LeoStella’s satellite manufacturing facility will be in a business park in Tukwila. (Sabey Photo) TUKWILA, Wash. — Today it’s an empty office building in a business park south of Seattle, not far from a Mexican restaurant and an organic nursery. But within just a few months, the place will be turning out two to three satellites per…
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Orrery.ai aims to turn streams of data into secret weapon for strategic investment
Chipsats like the ones shown here could provide streams of radar data for processing by Orrery.ai’s algorithms. (Photo courtesy of Orrery.ai) Satellites, sensors, social media and purchasing data provide terabytes’ worth of information about how the global economy is working — and the insights gleaned from that data can be more precious than gold. But what’s…
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From Stratolaunch to startup: Chuck Beames raises his sights to York satellites
An artist’s concept shows a York Space Systems satellite in orbit. (York Space Systems Illustration) Two years ago, Chuck Beames presided over Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s effort to build the biggest airplane in the world. Now he has his eyes set on another big frontier: small satellites. Beames, who left the president’s post at Allen’s…
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Boeing expands satellite portfolio with acquisition of Millennium Space Systems
An artist’s concept shows Millennium’s Aquila satellite in orbit. (Millennium Space Systems Illustration) Boeing says it’ll expand its already-strong satellite portfolio with the acquisition of Millennium Space Systems, a California-based venture that specializes in small satellites for national security customers. Founded in 2001, Millennium had its first satellite, the 200-kilogram (440-pound) Rapid Pathfinder Prototype, launched…