Tag: Spaceflight Industries
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How the Seattle area became a hotspot for satellite builders — and what comes next
SpaceX employees in Redmond, Wash., give a cheer during the countdown to a Falcon 9 rocket launch that put dozens of Redmond-built SpaceX Starlink satellites in orbit on Nov. 11. (SpaceX via YouTube) Seattle may not be the best place to put a launch pad, but the region is turning into one of the most…
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Spaceflight Industries is raising more cash as satellite deals heat up on the final frontier
One of Spaceflight Industries’ most notable projects was the launch of 64 satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in December 2018. (SpaceX Photo) Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries, which has taken on a string of high-profile satellite missions over the past year, is in the midst of a new funding round, according to a filing with…
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Spaceflight and Rocket Lab will put a Japanese shooting-star satellite into orbit
An artist’s conception shows the ALE-2 shooting-star satellite in orbit. (ALE / Spaceflight Illustration) Seattle-based Spaceflight says it’s handling the pre-launch logistics for a Japanese satellite that’s designed to spray artificial shooting stars into the sky. Tokyo-based ALE’s spacecraft is just one of seven satellites due to be sent into orbit from New Zealand as…
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Spaceflight gets first crack at India’s new SSLV rocket – and puts up a ‘sold out’ sign
India’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle will be smaller than its workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, shown here on its launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center. (ISRO Photo) Seattle-based Spaceflight says it’s purchased the first commercial launch of India’s next-generation Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, or SSLV, and has already committed all of the available…
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Good news, bad news for Spaceflight: Satellite rideshare market is heating up
An artist’s conception shows a future SpaceX rocket deploying a satellite carrier in orbit. (SpaceX Illustration) Seattle-based Spaceflight has made a name for itself by putting together bunches of small satellites for launch on someone else’s rockets, but now the owners of some of those rockets are aiming to take the business for themselves. The…
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Rocket Lab launches seven small satellites from New Zealand for Seattle’s Spaceflight
Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle rises from the company’s launch pad on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab executed a picture-perfect first launch for Seattle’s Spaceflight Inc., putting BlackSky’s Global-3 Earth-observing satellite and six other small spacecraft into orbit from its New Zealand launch pad. The Los Angeles-based launch company nicknamed…
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BlackSky revs up satellite operations and teams up with HawkEye 360 and NRO
An artist’s conception shows BlackSky’s Global satellites in orbit. (BlackSky Illustration) Seattle-based BlackSky is ramping up commercial operations of its satellite-based geospatial intelligence platform, thanks to newly announced deals with the National Reconnaissance Office and HawkEye 360, a company that has its own radio-sensing satellites in orbit. Both deals were announced today in conjunction with…
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Spaceflight strikes a deal to put rideshare satellites on Relativity Space’s rocket
An artist’s conception shows Relativity Space’s Terran 1 rocket lifting off from Launch Complex 16 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (Relativity Space Illustration) Seattle-based Spaceflight has signed a launch services agreement to put payloads on Relativity Space’s Terran 1 rocket. Relativity, a startup that got its start in Seattle but is now headquartered in…
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BlackSky shares time-lapse satellite views
BlackSky’s Earth-imaging satellites provided this view of Melbourne’s waterfront and central business district. Ships can be seen plying the waters of the Yarra River. (BlackSky Photo) Seattle-based BlackSky says the first two Earth-imaging satellites in its Global constellation are up and running, with the ability to capture 1-meter-resolution views of the same spot on the…
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Tethers Unlimited says two-way radio for small satellites has aced first orbital test
The software-defined SWIFT-SLX S-band radio is designed to fit on a CubeSat-class satellite. (Tethers Unlimited Photo) Tethers Unlimited weathered a wave of bad news over the winter, but now some good news has bloomed. The company, headquartered in Bothell, Wash., reports that its SWIFT-SLX S-band radio has been successfully operated in orbit. The compact software-defined…