Tag: Satellite
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Russians toss satellites and install animal tracking system in marathon spacewalk
News Brief: Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Sergey Prokopyev tossed four small research satellites into orbit and installed an animal-tracking sensor system known as Icarus on the International Space Station’s exterior today, during a spacewalk that ran more than an hour longer than planned. Getting the hardware installed for Icarus, which will track migrating animals…
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Efforts to develop small-scale rockets are soaring, but only a few get off the ground
News Brief: The latest “State of the Industry” report for small orbital-class launch vehicles tracks 101 reported efforts to create such rockets, compared with a mere 31 in 2015. But many of those efforts are defunct or in limbo, Northrop Grumman’s Carlos Niederstrasser said today at the SmallSat Conference in Logan, Utah. “We’re definitely starting…
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Spaceflight’s SmallSat Express rounds up more than 70 satellites for SpaceX launch
An artist’s conception shows Spaceflight’s satellite deployers emerging from their SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. (Spaceflight Illustration) LOGAN, Utah — Seattle-based Spaceflight is confirming that it has more than 70 satellites from 18 countries signed up for launch on a first-of-its-kind dedicated rideshare mission, due to fly on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket by the end…
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Aerospace Corp. lays out ‘Launch Unit’ standard for medium small satellites
The Launch-U standard is designed to apply to satellites bigger than a CubeSat but smaller than an ESPA-class secondary payload. (Aerospace Corp. Photo) LOGAN, Utah — Tiny satellites have their own 4-inch CubeSat standard size, and bigger satellites have a size standard as well. But there’s an awkward gap where no one can agree on exactly…
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How small satellites tackle big challenges, from orbital manufacturing to exoplanets
An artist’s conception shows the HaloSat X-ray-detecting mini-telescope against a background of stars and nebulas. (HaloSat / Univ. of Iowa Illustration) LOGAN, Utah — No one has ever built a satellite in space, but thanks in part to a team of students from Idaho, that could soon change. Other teams are building miniaturized satellites to look…
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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket puts 10 Iridium satellites in orbit, then lands in rough seas
A webcam shows the deployment of an Iridium NEXT telecommunications satellites from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 upper stage, with Earth in the background. (SpaceX via YouTube) SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket sent 10 more Iridium NEXT telecommunications satellites into space today from a fogged-in California pad, then executed a rough-and-tumble booster landing. Today’s mission also featured an…
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BlackSky teams up with ATLAS Space Operations for satellite communications
News Brief: Michigan-based ATLAS Space Operations says it will provide telemetry, commanding and data support for the Earth-observing satellite constellation that’s due to be put into low Earth orbit for Seattle-based BlackSky. In a news release, ATLAS says it will offer support via new ground station sites in Guam and Japan to maximize the constellation’s…
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SpaceX wins $130 million Air Force launch contract, marking a first for Falcon Heavy
An automated camera documents the Falcon Heavy rocket’s first ascent from Kennedy Space Center in February with SpaceX’s hangar in the foreground. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota) The U.S. Air Force has awarded a $130 million firm-fixed-price contract to SpaceX for the launch of its classified AFSPC-52 satellite on a Falcon Heavy rocket. It’s the…
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SpinLaunch raises $40M from Airbus, Google and others for space catapult
SpinLaunch’s hangar is home to a vehicle that’s designed to be launched from a catapult. (SpinLaunch Photo) A stealthy Silicon Valley startup called SpinLaunch says it’s raised a total of $40 million from a high-profile array of investors to get a space catapult system ready for launch by 2022. The company, founded in 2015 by…
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Spaceflight strikes deal with Rocket Lab for three satellite launch extravaganzas
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifts off from its New Zealand launch pad in January. (Rocket Lab Photo via Spaceflight) Seattle-based Spaceflight has partnered with Rocket Lab for three launches over the next year, including one of the first launches for BlackSky’s Earth observation constellation. All three launches will send an assortment of small satellites into low…