Launch
Virgin Orbit selects Japanese airport as launch site
Virgin Orbit announced April 2 it has identified an airport in Japan as a potential site for launch operations, joining airports in the United States and Great Britain as hosts for the air-launch company.
Avio, exempt from Italy’s coronavirus lockdown, seeks reopening of French Guiana spaceport
Since 60% of Avio’s revenue comes from manufacturing, the French government’s March 16 decision to suspend launches from the Guiana Space Center shouldn’t impact revenues as long as Europe’s South American spaceport reopens within two to three months, Ranzo said.
MHI pressing through pandemic toward late 2020 H3 rocket debut
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries still expects to conduct the maiden flight of Japan’s H3 rocket this year, notwithstanding the coronavirus pandemic.
Rocket Lab postpones launch because of coronavirus pandemic
Rocket Lab announced March 24 that it was delaying the next launch of its Electron rocket from New Zealand as the government there institutes a near-total lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
NASA to participate in SpaceX engine anomaly investigation
NASA representatives will be part of an ongoing SpaceX investigation into an engine anomaly on a recent Falcon 9 launch as the company prepares for a Crew Dragon mission carrying two NASA astronauts.
Astra rocket damaged in pre-launch tests
Small launch vehicle startup Astra has postponed its next launch attempt after the rocket was damaged in what local officials say was an “anomaly” during a prelaunch test.
Soyuz launches 34 OneWeb satellites
Arianespace launched 34 small broadband satellites for OneWeb March 21, expanding the startup’s constellation to 74 satellites in low Earth orbit.
Virgin Orbit’s space launch business deemed ‘essential service,’ work allowed to continue at Long Beach
Virgin Orbit spokesman: “Unavoidably, this will have some impact on our launch date, and on the launches that immediately follow."
Rocket Lab launch preparations continue despite coronavirus travel restrictions
Rocket Lab is continuing with preparations for a launch later this month despite the coronavirus pandemic, although another small launch company’s plans for a launch this month remain unclear.
Space should fare better against coronavirus than other industries, report says
“While by no means immune from the broader economic downdraft, we nonetheless expect the Satellite & Space industry to fare somewhat better from a demand perspective than the economy-at-large,” the report said.
Virgin Orbit working toward first launch, schedule reassessed amid pandemic
Virgin Orbit spokesman: "We are assessing things daily and keeping momentum up as best we can."
SpaceX launches Starlink satellites, misses booster landing for second time
SpaceX successfully launched 60 satellites for its Starlink broadband constellation March 18, but failed to recover the rocket’s first stage, marking the company’s second consecutive booster miss on a Starlink mission.
SpaceX to launch Intelsat-40e satellite
Intelsat has selected SpaceX to launch the Intelsat-40e geostationary communications satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket in 2022.
Op-ed | National security launch not ready to commit to commercial practices
Leveraging commercial practices must not exclude or degrade mission assurance, as history has amply demonstrated.
Arianespace suspends French Guiana launches amid coronavirus response
Arianespace paused launch activity from Europe’s South American spaceport March 16 following the French government’s announcement that non-essential activities should be limited in response to the growing coronavirus pandemic.
