Given its financial woes, it was not a surprise that Vector had to withdraw from its contract with the US Air Force to launch the Agile Small Launch Operational Normalizer (ASLON) 45 mission. That was originally supposed to be formed as an upper stage/delivery...
Controllers at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) were licking their wounds after its unmanned landing attempt on the Moon ended in failure – and with India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, looking on. The Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter/Vikram Lander/Pragram Rover...
While it has made a brief vertical up-and-down hop before, the SpaceX Starhopper made a proper lift-off, traverse, and vertical landing on 27 August. This was the day after an ignition failure of the LOx (Liquid Oxygen)/Methane Raptor engine on 26 August prevented an...
The small satellite manufacturer Blue Canyon Technologies (BCT) has been awarded the contract by Viasat to build a US Air Force test satellite to act as a “Link 16” communications relay terminal in low Earth Orbit. The test satellite will use a BCT XB1 12U...
During the 1970s there was a mini-outcry in the UK when shops began to introduce Upside-down-Dalek-like CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) camera systems in order to try and prevent shoplifting. However, it was, at first sight, a legitimate use of surveillance...
An unexpected Chinese satellite launch took place from Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 0357 GMT, 26 July 2019. This mission saw a CALT (Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology) Long March 2C (CZ-2C) rocket orbit a triplet of YAOGAN 30-05 Earth Observation...
