Netherlands – Spaceflight Now

Privately-funded mission takes off to begin space debris cleanup trials

March 22, 2021 Stephen Clark

A commercial mission developed by the Japanese company Astroscale rocketed into space on a Russian Soyuz launcher Monday with 37 other payloads, ready to kick off an orbital “dance” with two small spacecraft demonstrating how satellite sweepers might one day drag junk out of orbit.

Live coverage: Soyuz launches with 38 satellites

March 19, 2021 Stephen Clark

A Russian Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 2:07 a.m. EDT (0607 GMT) Monday with 38 small and medium-size satellites for customers in 18 countries.

Soyuz rocket with special paint scheme rolls out to Baikonur launch pad

March 18, 2021 Stephen Clark

Sporting a new blue and white paint scheme to mark the upcoming 60th anniversary of the first human spaceflight, a Russian Soyuz rocket loaded with 38 international satellites has rolled out to its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan ahead of a planned liftoff Saturday.

On-board camera replay of PSLV’s deployment of 31 smallsats

November 30, 2018 Stephen Clark

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle released 31 satellites into two different orbits Thursday, and on-board cameras captured dazzling views of the smallsats flying away from the rocket’s upper stage high above Earth.

Indian rocket launches 31 satellites

November 29, 2018 Stephen Clark

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off Thursday and deployed in orbit a hyperspectral Earth-imaging satellite designed to assess vegetation, soil conditions and pollution in rich detail, then maneuvered to a lower altitude to release 30 more smallsats, including reinforcements for Planet and Spire’s commercial Earth-observing constellations.

Live coverage: PSLV launches cluster of international satellites

November 28, 2018 Stephen Clark

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off at 0427 GMT Thursday (11:27 p.m. EST Wednesday) with 31 satellites from nine countries, with most of the smallsats coming from U.S. customers.

Chinese data relay satellite nears post over far side of the moon

June 3, 2018 Stephen Clark

A Chinese communications satellite carrying a Dutch radio astronomy instrument launched last month is expected to maneuver into position around a gravitationally-neutral point beyond the moon in the coming days, ready to relay telemetry and data between Earth and the Chang’e 4 lander set to attempt the first landing on lunar far side late this year.

Q&A with Heino Falcke, principal investigator of the Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer (members only)

June 1, 2018 Stephen Clark

Heino Falcke, an accomplished radio astronomer at Radboud University in the Netherlands, leads a team of European scientists and engineers who developed a scientific receiver flying on China’s Queqiao spacecraft flying to a point in space beyond the far side of the moon.

Photos: Converted Russian ballistic missile fires into space with satellite

October 16, 2017 Stephen Clark

A decommissioned missile originally built in Russia to deliver nuclear weapons to intercontinental targets in the United States vaulted out of a vertical canister Friday and fired into space with a European satellite to monitor global air pollution.

Modified Russian missile boosts Europe’s newest environmental sentinel to space

October 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

A European satellite that will collect daily air quality measurements over every major city on Earth rode an uprated Russian ballistic missile into orbit Friday.