SSI News
Satellite and launch orders in October 2024
Launch Orders Japan's H3 gains launch order for Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA) mission SpaceX is awarded US Space Force launch orders worth US$733.5 million for seven launches for SDA and two for NRO Firefly Alpha gets multi-launch contract for True...
Spacewalking in style: Axiom unveils spacesuits designed with Prada
Amid the plethora of people at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Milan, one of the fashion capitals of the world, there was undoubtedly one outfit that turned the most heads: that of Axiom’s Artemis spacesuit. The Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit...
IAC 2024: Space cooperation – but don’t sit next to me
The annual International Astronautical Congress (IAC) is the primary meeting place for space agencies to get together. That and the fact that it was hosted in highly fashionable Milan, in Northern Italy, made IAC the place to be seen this October. This fact was...
Intelsat IS-33e comsat explodes into 500 pieces of debris
A communications satellite in Intelsat’s Epic fleet created debris in space after it suffered an explosion in geostationary orbit at 0430 GMT on 19 October. Update on 29 October: Initial reports estimated that the event created 20 pieces of debris, but it was later...
SpaceX catches Super Heavy booster in historic feat during IFT-5 Starship test flight
SpaceX has taken a dramatic leap towards its dream of placing the first humans on Mars after the company successfully returned a 232-foot-tall (71-metre) booster to its launchpad on its first attempt. The Starship Super Heavy Test Flight 5 (IFT-5) (Ship 30 upper stage...
ULA on track for certification after Vulcan Centaur test flight despite booster nozzle blow out
Although the second test flight (CERT-2) of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket was successful, it was not without incident. Initially held up by temperature measurements that were out of range, the launch was authorised to go ahead after dawn had...
Launches in October 2024
SpaceX suspends Falcon 9 launches after another upper-stage anomaly afflicts crew mission
For the third consecutive month, SpaceX has brought launches of its Falcon 9 rocket to a temporary halt after an anomaly occurred on its latest crewed mission. What happened? Crew-9 was launched aboard a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 at 17:17 (GMT) on 28 September from Cape...
Satellite TV giants Dish and DirecTV decide to merge to fight outside competition rather than each other
While sometimes mergers and acquisitions signal the strength of a market, this cannot be said of the merger of former Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite TV rivals Dish Network and DirectTV. In a double move, Dish Network was acquired by DirecTV from its owner Echostar for...
Mel’s Good Space – September 2024
On 12 September I was asked to do an interview with Al Jazeera English covering the Polaris Dawn spacewalk. What was meant to be a 5-minute overview of what the mission meant to the commercialisation of space ended up being a 45-minute, live play-by-play of the...
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