CryoSat-1 was launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia on October 8, 2005, using a Rockot launcher. (Rockot is a modified SS-19 rocket which was originally an ICBM designed to deliver nuclear weapons, but which Russia is now eliminating in accordance with the START treaties.) According to Mr. Yuri Bakhvalov, First Deputy Director General of the Khrunichev Space Centre, when the automatic command to switch off the second stage engine did not take effect, the second stage continued to operate until it ran out of fuel and as a consequence the planned separation of the third (Breeze-KM) stage of the rocket which carried the CryoSat satellite did not take place, and would thus have remained attached to the second stage. The upper rocket stages, together with the satellite, probably crashed in the Lincoln Sea. Analysis of the error revealed that it was caused by faults in the programming of the rocket, which had not been detected in simulations.
Sub-orbital launch under Rocket Lab’s Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) program, details TBD.
A pair of Chinese satellites reported to be for "Earth observation technological testing and validation" purposes. Actual usage not known.
A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
A batch of 5 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…
The Fengyun-3 (FY-3) series is the 2nd generation of Chinese polar-orbiting meteorological satellites, following on from the FY-1 series. The series …
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Project Kuiper is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, this constellation will be managed…
A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) is a NASA mission to study interactions between solar wind and the local interstellar medium. Carr…
12 LEO communications satellites for Chinese car manufacturer Geely Automotive for testing autonomous driving/inter-vehicle communication services. T…