SpaceX has said it plans to launch on Jan. 8 the first batch of satellites for Iridium Communications’ NEXT constellation after it determined the cause of the Sept. 1 explosion of the Falcon 9 rocket, the Washington Post reported Monday. Christian Davenport writes the Elon Musk-owned company found that the explosion was caused by a pressure vessel in the […] More

SpaceX, Boeing and OneWeb have announced plans to launch satellite constellations that will work to operate in low-Earth orbit and offer high-speed broadband service worldwide, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. Samantha Masunaga writes the $224.6-billion broadband industry dominated by cable and telecommunications firms is likely to face a challenge with the potential launch of such […] More

SpaceX has moved the launch of the first batch of satellites for Iridium Communications’ NEXT constellation from mid-December to early January as the Elon Musk-owned company works to complete the investigation into the Sept. 1 explosion of its Falcon 9 rocket, Space.com reported Wednesday. Mike Wall writes Musk had previously announced plans to resume flights […] More

Iridium Communications has scheduled the launch of its next-generation global satellite constellation Iridium NEXT for Dec. 16 aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will carry 10 Iridium NEXT satellites to low-Earth orbit to replace an existing commercial satellite network in space, Iridium said Thursday. The planned launch announcement follows […] More

Iridium CEO Matt Desch announced in a Twitter post Monday the arrival of the stage 1 booster for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in California for the launch of Iridium satellites as part of the company’s NEXT constellation, Ars Technica reported Monday. Eric Berger writes the rocket’s first stage booster was spotted Sunday in Arizona en route to Vandenberg […] More

Iridium CEO Matt Desch has said he is confident that SpaceX is back on track to launch Iridium’s new fleet of satellites into orbit after Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, spoke about the cause of the Sept. 1 explosion of the Falcon 9 rocket, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. “We’ve been privy to the thinking and the […] More

SpaceX plans to launch used Dragon spacecraft for cargo delivery missions to the International Space Station by 2017 as part of the Elon Musk-owned company’s Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA, SpaceNews reported Friday. Jeff Foust writes that Benjamin Reed, SpaceX director of commercial crew mission management, told the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight that SpaceX looks to reuse Dragon spacecraft to […] More

Tory Bruno, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance, has said the competition between ULA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has made the former company re-evaluate its cost structure for space launch services, Forbes reported Friday. Bruno told Forbes contributor Loren Thompson in an interview that the Boeing–Lockheed Martin joint venture has made a 35 percent reduction in […] More

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg has said the Chicago-based aerospace company plans to land the first human on Mars and that he expects space tourism to develop into a “viable commercial market” over the next 20 years, Bloomberg Technology reported Tuesday. “I’m convinced the first person to step foot on Mars will arrive there riding a Boeing […] More

United Launch Alliance has signed a cooperative research-and-development agreement with the U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center in support of efforts to certify the company’s future Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle for national security space missions. The Air Force said Tuesday the cooperative, jointly-written agreement will stay in effect until all non-recurring design validation activities for the launch vehicle […] More

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket exploded at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida prior to the rocket’s static fire test, Space News reported Thursday. Brian Berger and Jeff Foust write the explosion early Thursday destroyed the rocket’s communications satellite payload Amos-6, built as part of Facebook’s plan to beam Internet access to remote areas in […] More

Orbital ATK aims to build a rocket technology offering for the U.S. Air Force as part of the company’s push into the national security satellite market, Reuters reported Tuesday. Irene Klotz writes John Steinmeyer, director of business development at Orbital ATK, said at the Space Congress held Tuesday in Florida the company would base its “Next Generation Launcher” on solid-rocket […] More