Iridium Comxmunications has rescheduled to Oct. 4 the launch of a third batch of 10 NEXT communications satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, aboard a SpaceX-built Falcon 9 rocket. The company said Wednesday it began pre-launch processing activities on the satellites and the Falcon 9 rocket stages and components. The third Irdium NEXT launch was originally slated […] More

Iridium Communications plans to launch the third batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites on Sept. 30 aboard a SpaceX-built Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The scheduled launch would bring the total number of Iridium NEXT satellites in space to 30 as part of a potential $3 billion program to replace an existing constellation with 75 new communications satellites […] More

Iridium Communications CEO Matt Desch has said eight of the first 10 Iridium NEXT satellites that took off in January began to provide data and voice transmission service between March and mid-April, Spaceflight Now reported Friday. Stephen Clark writes Desch said at a quarterly earnings call Thursday that engineers have begun to reposition the two other satellites […] More

NASA plans to launch an instrument designed to measure Earth’s ozone as part of SpaceX‘s 10th cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. The agency said Saturday the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III on ISS  payload will launch with the SpaceX-built Dragon spacecraft this month from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SAGE III will be attached to […] 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

Orbital ATK has transported the first two next-generation Iridium satellites to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as part of preparations for the scheduled liftoff on Sept. 19, Spaceflight Now reported Wednesday. Stephen Clark writes the satellites were shipped via truck from an Orbital ATK-run manufacturing facility near Phoenix to Vandenberg, where eight additional message transmission […] More

Iridium Communications has delayed the launch of its 66-satellite Iridium NEXT constellation from April to July after the launch provider notified of delays in obtaining government approvals for the launches, Iridium CEO Matt Desch told investors Thursday. SpaceX will launch 10 Iridium NEXT satellites in December on its Falcon 9 rocket and joint Russian-Ukrainian spaceflight company Kosmotros will subsequently launch two […] More

An Aerojet Rocketdyne subsidiary has tested a five-kilowatt Hall Thruster in the U.K. with a Thales Alenia Space-built power processing unit. European Space Propulsion will next transfer the production capability of the XR-5 thruster from Aerojet Rocketdyne and develop the XR-5E, Aerojet Rocketdyne said Wednesday. Paul Sinton, managing director of European Space Propulsion, said the […] More

Iridium Communications has rescheduled the launch of the first pair of Iridium NEXT satellites to April to provide an additional four months to address an issue with the satellite’s communications payload, Spaceflight Now reported Tuesday. Stephen Clark writes Iridium CEO Matt Desch said Oct. 29 that prime contractor Thales Alenia Space found an issue inside the payload’s Ka-band […] More

NASA has received an Orion spacecraft module test model built by an Airbus Group subsidiary for evaluation at the agency’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio. Airbus Defence and Space developed the hardware on behalf of the European Space Agency and to support a future U.S.-led manned deep space exploration mission, Airbus said Monday. NASA and ESA signed an […] More

Iridium Communications has completed the integration of communication and surveillance payloads with the Iridium NEXT satellite. The company said Monday it will send the satellite with the integrated Aireon-hosted tracking payload for aircraft surveillance to Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France for final qualification testing. The integrated module is part of the 66 low-Earth orbit satellites that will […] More

A Forecast International study estimates the production value of remote sensing satellites will reach $27.2 billion by 2024 due to an increasing demand for Earth imagery products in both government and commercial sectors. Manufacturers are projected to build more than 200 satellites equipped with remote sensing technology over the next decade, the research firm said […] More