Commercial Space – Page 129

Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket test-fired in Florida

October 2, 2017 Stephen Clark

A previously-flown SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster conducted a test-firing Monday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ahead of a planned launch Oct. 7 with an Airbus-built communications satellite made for SES and EchoStar.

Live coverage: Ariane 5 rocket fires into space with two commercial satellites

September 29, 2017 Stephen Clark

More than three weeks after a faulty electrical component halted a countdown moments before liftoff, an Ariane 5 rocket lifted off from French Guiana on Friday with two commercial communications satellites. Launch occurred at 2156 GMT (5:56 p.m. EDT).

Elon Musk revises Mars plan, hopes for boots on ground in 2024

September 29, 2017 William Harwood

SpaceX plans to begin construction of a new rocket and spacecraft next year that could lead to human landings on Mars as early as 2024, scaling up technologies currently being perfected with the company’s Falcon 9 family of boosters to ensure reliability, reusability and, as a result, realistically low costs, founder Elon Musk said Friday.

Photos: Proton booster lifts off from Baikonur Cosmodrome

September 29, 2017 Stephen Clark

Rising atop a column of rocket exhaust lighting up the Kazakh steppe, a Russian Proton booster took off Thursday with a commercial communications satellite for AsiaSat.

ILS declares mission success after Proton launch of AsiaSat 9

September 29, 2017 Stephen Clark

AsiaSat’s most powerful communications satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral in California to reach developing markets in Myanmar, Indonesia and other parts of the Asia-Pacific, rode a Proton rocket and Breeze M upper stage Thursday into orbit ranging more than 22,000 miles above Earth.

Live coverage: Proton lifts off with U.S.-built satellite for Asian company

September 28, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Russian Proton rocket lifted off Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with the AsiaSat 9 satellite destined to provide television broadcast, video networking and data delivery services over the Asia-Pacific region. Launch occurred at 1852:16 GMT (2:52:16 p.m. EDT), beginning a series of maneuvers expected to last nine hours before AsiaSat 9 is deployed from the rocket.

AsiaSat communications payload ready for Proton launch

September 26, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Russian Proton rocket topped with a commercial U.S.-built communications satellite for AsiaSat is standing on a launch pad in Kazakhstan for liftoff Thursday.

SpaceX sets target launch dates for back-to-back flights next month

September 26, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX engineers are readying two Falcon 9 rockets for launches Oct. 7 and Oct. 9 from Florida and California, setting up another quick turnaround to first deploy a large TV broadcasting satellite for SES and EchoStar over the United States with a previously-flown booster, then add 10 more spacecraft to Iridium’s fleet of new-generation voice and data relay network.

Six firm launch contracts booked with Arianespace

September 20, 2017 Stephen Clark

Arianespace has received its first two confirmed launch contracts for Europe’s new Ariane 6 rocket, and the company recently announced four more launch bookings to loft communications and weather satellites into orbit aboard Ariane 5 and Soyuz boosters from French Guiana.

Japan’s MHI wins deal to launch satellite for Inmarsat

September 19, 2017 Stephen Clark

Inmarsat has selected Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to launch the first of two planned sixth-generation communications satellites on an H-2A rocket in 2020, giving the Japanese launcher its second commercial win in the global market to loft large geostationary telecom craft.