University of Michigan – Spaceflight Now

Virgin’s satellite launcher reaches orbit for first time

January 18, 2021 Stephen Clark

An air-launched rocket built by Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit reached orbit Sunday for the first time, delivering 10 experimental CubeSats for NASA and positioning the company for the start of commercial operations.

NASA takes a chance on Virgin Orbit with company’s second test launch

January 16, 2021 Stephen Clark

On its second launch attempt after a propulsion problem prevented its light-class air-dropped rocket from reaching space last year, Virgin Orbit will try to deliver 10 experimental CubeSats into orbit as soon as Sunday on a mission booked by NASA five years ago for $4.7 million.

Swarm of NASA nanosats to probe source of solar eruptions

April 1, 2020 Stephen Clark

NASA has selected a mission to dispatch six CubeSats, each the size of a toaster oven, to an orbit more than 20,000 miles from Earth to study massive particle ejections from the sun.

Water plumes on Europa detected by Galileo spacecraft

May 14, 2018 William Harwood

A review of data captured by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft as it orbited Jupiter in the 1990s indicates it likely flew through a plume of water vapor spewing from cracks in the surface of the moon Europa, providing independent evidence water is being released from a vast sub-surface ocean beneath its frozen crust, scientists said Monday.

Flock of ‘microsats’ launched to measure winds inside hurricanes

December 15, 2016 Stephen Clark

A winged Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket dropped from the belly of a carrier jet off the east coast of Florida and fired into orbit Thursday with eight research satellites to fly around the tropics and return measurements of winds at the cores of hurricanes.

Hydraulic pump glitch scrubs Pegasus launch

December 12, 2016 Stephen Clark

Trouble with a hydraulic pump needed to release Orbital ATK’s air-launched Pegasus XL rocket from its carrier jet Monday has delayed the deployment of eight NASA hurricane research satellites until at least Wednesday.

Pegasus XL launch timeline with NASA’s CYGNSS microsats

December 12, 2016 Stephen Clark

Orbital ATK’s Pegasus XL rocket will take about eight minutes to reach orbit with NASA’s eight CYGNSS weather research microsatellites, then comes deployment of the spacecraft more than 300 miles above Earth.

Live coverage: Pegasus rocket successfully fires into orbit

December 12, 2016 Stephen Clark

An Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket carrying eight hurricane research satellites for NASA fired into orbit Thursday at 8:37 a.m. EST (1337 GMT) off the east coast of Florida.

Video: Inside the CYGNSS satellite factory and the Pegasus carrier aircraft

December 11, 2016 Stephen Clark

Spaceflight Now visited the CYGNSS production facility at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and the Pegasus XL rocket’s carrier plane at Cape Canaveral for rare looks at hardware that make NASA’s $157 million hurricane research mission possible.

Photos: Hurricane research satellites readied for launch

December 10, 2016 Stephen Clark

Eight miniature weather observatories, each the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, were installed on a specially-designed deployer module and mounted on the front end of an air-launched Pegasus XL rocket to prepare for Monday’s flight into orbit.