Commercial Space – Page 144

Iridium hails performance of new satellites, targets four more launches this year

April 28, 2017 Stephen Clark

Eight of Iridium’s first ten upgraded communications satellites launched in January started providing voice and data relay service ahead of schedule, and SpaceX says it can launch up to 40 more Iridium spacecraft by the end of the year, Iridium officials reported Thursday.

Weather looks good for Falcon 9 launch Sunday, but payload still a mystery

April 27, 2017 Stephen Clark

An official weather outlook issued by U.S. Air Force meteorologists Thursday calls for partly cloudy skies on Florida’s Space Coast for liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket just after sunrise Sunday with a clandestine payload for the U.S. government’s intelligence agencies.

SpaceX completes static fire test for Sunday launch of secret satellite

April 25, 2017 Stephen Clark

Nine Merlin engines at the base of SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket fired up Tuesday on a launch pad in Florida, wringing out the booster and ground systems ahead of a planned liftoff Sunday with a top secret payload for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency.

Watch a Falcon 9 rocket fire its engines Tuesday at pad 39A

April 25, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket completed a prelaunch hotfire test at launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday in a signifiant step before Sunday’s scheduled liftoff of a top secret U.S. government spy payload.

Operations resume at European-run launch base in French Guiana

April 25, 2017 Stephen Clark

Ground crews returned to work Monday at the Guiana Space Center, a European-run spaceport on the northeastern shore of South America, after protests and a general strike across French Guiana interrupted launch operations for five weeks.

Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket on track for Sunday launch

April 25, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX rolled out a Falcon 9 rocket to launch pad 39A early Tuesday for a prelaunch hotfire test before this weekend’s liftoff with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government spy satellite agency. The static fire test was completed at 3:02 p.m. (1902 GMT).

ULA chief says Blue Origin in driver’s seat for Vulcan engine deal

April 18, 2017 Stephen Clark

A full-scale BE-4 engine developed by Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, is installed on a test stand in West Texas for a series of hotfire tests that United Launch Alliance will closely examine before settling on the reusable methane-fueled engine for its new-generation Vulcan rocket.

Videos: Strap in aboard Blue Origin’s suborbital spaceship

April 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

Step inside a prototype of Blue Origin’s crew capsule to get a glimpse of what space tourists will experience when the spaceship begins suborbital flights with passengers in 2018.

Photos: Blue Origin’s New Shepard booster on display

April 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

Scarred from five trips to the edge of space and back, Blue Origin’s privately-developed New Shepard rocket was on vertical display this week at the 33rd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.

Blue Origin’s staying power bankrolled by Jeff Bezos’s multibillion-dollar investment

April 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, now the second-richest person in the world, is funding his space company’s lofty ambitions $1 billion per year, driving Blue Origin closer to taking paying passengers to the edge of space and fielding a reusable satellite launcher that will usher in a golden age of space exploration, the billionaire tycoon said Wednesday.