By Stephen Clark, Published by Spaceflight Now, 19 May 2021 A Rocket Lab Electron launcher malfunctioned about two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff from New Zealand Saturday, destroying two BlackSky Earth-imaging satellites in the launch company’s second failed flight in less than a year. Rocket Lab, a small satellite launch company headquartered
By Sandra Erwin, Published by SpaceNews, 11 May 2021 Projects will be co-funded by the government and contractors under “other transactions authority” agreements managed by the Space Enterprise Consortium WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force on May 11 issued three requests for industry proposals on technologies that the military will
By Murray Horton, Secretary/Organiser, Anti-Bases Campaign, Christchurch, New Zealand, 18 April 2021 Rocket Lab started life as a small New Zealand company but is now much bigger and has become the local subsidiary of a US company, with its owners including arms industry behemoths such as Lockheed Martin. It specialises
By Christen Mccurdy, Published by Space Daily, 15 April 2021 Washington DC (UPI) - The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded three contracts this week to design a nuclear thermal propulsion system that will operate above low Earth orbit in 2025. General Atomics, Blue Origin, and Lockheed Martin are the
by Jeff Foust, Published in SpaceNews, 5 April, 2021 WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin has signed a contract with small launch vehicle developer ABL Space Systems for as many as 58 launches over the next decade, a deal potentially worth several hundred million dollars. The contract, announced April 5, covers up
By Jeff Foust, Published by SpaceNews, 30 March 2021 WASHINGTON — SpaceX launched its fourth Starship prototype in less than four months March 30, only to have the vehicle apparently crash once again. The Starship SN11 vehicle lifted off at approximately 9 a.m. Eastern from the company’s Boca Chica, Texas,
Skyrora plans to offer launch services to low Earth Sun-synchronous and polar orbits for payloads of up to 315 kg By Staff Writers, published by Space Daily, 26 March 2021 Paris (ESA) - As part of its Boost! programme, ESA has signed two new contracts which support UK-based Orbex and
Published in Russia Today, 25 March 2021 After a successful launch, a Russian Soyuz rocket is on its way to low Earth orbit to drop off 36 satellites created by UK firm OneWeb, set to join a “constellation” of small devices designed to expand internet coverage worldwide. Moscow’s space agency
