Live coverage: Proton fires into space with Eutelsat 9B

A mysterious small satellite built by the German company OHB, purported to be a pathfinder for a Chinese-owned communications constellation, took off from New Zealand Wednesday and soared into orbit on top of a Rocket Lab Electron launcher.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster assigned to launch as soon as March on SpaceX’s first mission with a previously-flown rocket has been test-fired at the company’s development facility in Central Texas.

Nearly a year-and-a-half after arriving at the red planet, Europe’s ExoMars orbiter is finally approaching a planned perch around 250 miles over the rust-colored world after repeatedly dipping into the Martian atmosphere to lower its orbit.