NASA has awarded a launch contract for its Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission to SpaceX for Falcon 9 launch in 2024. The mission will also carry four secondary payload satellites. The value of the contract covering launch from Cape Canaveral,...
Having previously been selected as the prime contractor in early July, Airbus DS has formally received a Eu300 million (US$352 million) order to build the 1,700 kg Copernicus Polar Ice and Snow Topography ALtimeter (CRISTAL) ice monitoriing spacecraft from the...
On 15 September the European Space Agency (ESA) awarded the construction contract for their HERA mission to German manufacturer OHB Systems. The contract is valued at EUR€129.4m (US$153.3m). OHB will be the lead in a team with 17 other companies from ESA member...
Given that Vandenberg, California, is the main launch site for US missions to polar and near polar Sun-synchronous orbit launches, it was a surprise that SpaceX elected to use Cape Canaveral to launch Argentina’s second three metric ton radar satellite,...
Airbus DS, France, has been selected to build the Earth Return Orbiter (ERO), part of the, NASA/ESA, Mars Sample Return project. The ERO will transport recovered Martian rock samples – some of which will be prepared by the recently launched Perseverance rover...
Lifting-off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, a ULA Atlas V 541 rocket has carried the Mars 2020 mission into orbit. The launch occurred at 1150 GMT, 30 July 2020. The payload was placed into a “parking” low Earth orbit before the rocket’s Centaur...
