Tag: Ukraine
-
ESA Chief Calls for Independent European Human Spaceflight Capability
European Space Agency Director General Josef Aschbacher has called for Europe to establish its own independent human spaceflight capability, arguing that the continent has become overly dependent on decisions made by foreign partners. In an opinion article published on May 18, Aschbacher said recent changes to the United States’ Artemis programme architecture and Europe’s reduced…
-
Russian ballistic missile attack on Ukraine portends new era of warfare
Two days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a change in the country’s policy for employing nuclear weapons in conflict. Then, on Thursday, Russia attacked the Ukrainian city of Dnipro with a new type of ballistic missile capable of one day delivering multiple nuclear warheads to distant targets with little warning. Putin says his ballistic…
-
As North Korean troops march toward Ukraine, does a Russian quid pro quo reach space?
Earlier this week, North Korea apparently completed a successful test of its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, lofting it nearly 4,800 miles into space before the projectile fell back to Earth. This solid-fueled, multi-stage missile, named the Hwasong-19, is a new tool in North Korea’s increasingly sophisticated arsenal of weapons. It has enough range—perhaps as…
-
Space Force chief says commercial satellites may need defending
Like the US Navy has long protected sea lanes during conflict, the military could be called upon to defend commercial satellites from attack, particularly as the Pentagon relies more on commercial networks for communication and surveillance, the Space Force’s top general said last week. In comments at a conference in Hawaii on September 20, Gen.…
-
End of the line for Russia and Ukraine’s partnership in rocketry
A last gasp in a long-standing link between Russia and Ukraine in the field of rocketry could come this week in an unlikely place—the rural wetlands of eastern Virginia—halfway around the world from the battlefields where the nations’ military forces are locked in a deadly conflict. A commercial Antares rocket owned by the US aerospace…
-
Trend or aberration? Russia is launching foreign satellites again
For the first time since the invasion of Ukraine essentially cut off Russia’s space industry from foreign customers, a Russian rocket lifted off Tuesday and carried satellites into orbit with commercial technology from Western companies. The payloads from companies based in the United Kingdom and Luxembourg flew on a satellite owned by the United Arab…
-
Maritime Launch Services breaks ground on Canada’s first orbital launch site
Maritime Launch Services (MLS) in Canada has received approval to begin construction of Spaceport Nova Scotia within the framework of an Environmental Assessment approved in 2019. The spaceport in maritime Canada will be the first orbital launch location for the country and will be geared towards service of the medium-lift market using the Ukrainian Cyclone-4M…
-
Russian weather satellite lifts off aboard Zenit rocket
A weather satellite to help civilian and military forecasters track storm systems over Russia’s vast territory launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Friday aboard a Ukrainian-built Zenit rocket, perhaps on its final flight as Russian-Ukrainian relations sour and demand wanes for the 1980s-era launcher. The Elektro-L 2 weather satellite, enclosed inside the Zenit rocket’s nose…
-
Zenit rocket raised on launch pad for possible final flight
In the run up to what may be the final flight of a Zenit launcher, a Russian-Ukrainian creation that represented a new age of Soviet-era rocketry, ground crews transferred the powerful booster to a launch pad Wednesday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The Zenit rocket reached its launch pad, part of Baikonur’s Complex 45 site, Wednesday…
-
Customers assured of Dnepr rocket’s near-term availability
File photo of a Dnepr rocket launch. Credit: ESA/S. Corvaja Flights of the Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr rocket are expected to continue this year despite proclamations the satellite launcher program is suspended, officials said this week. The light-class Dnepr rocket, which has found a niche in launching flocks of small satellites, is derived from the R-36M missile…