WASHINGTON — SpaceX launched more than 100 satellites in the ninth in a series of dedicated smallsat rideshare missions Nov. 11, the latest flight in a program that has generated both delight and disdain across the commercial space industry. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in […]
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WASHINGTON — Industry executives argue that SpaceX’s dominant position in the launch market is making it difficult for small launch vehicles to compete, as a prominent investor warns of a wave of bankruptcies among launch companies. In a panel at the Satellite Innovation conference Oct. 17, executives said that SpaceX’s […]
WASHINGTON — NASA has selected SpaceX to launch a pair of smallsats to study space weather as part of a rideshare mission in 2025. NASA announced Sept. 29 that it awarded SpaceX a task order to launch the Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS), a pair of smallsats […]
When a Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base June 12, it carried a broad cross-section of the overall smallsat industry. Transporter-8, SpaceX’s eighth dedicated rideshare mission, included 72 payloads for deployment into a sun-synchronous orbit. Several companies developing constellations had satellites on board, like radar imaging company […]
LOGAN, Utah — SpaceX is offering a second class of rideshare missions on its Falcon 9 rocket to serve customers seeking to go to mid-inclination orbits. During a presentation at the 37th Annual Small Satellite Conference here Aug. 9, Jarrod McLachlan, director of rideshare sales at SpaceX, said the company […]
NEW YORK — A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched several dozen smallsats on a dedicated rideshare mission June 12, with customers ranging from the U.S. Space Force to startups deploying their first satellites. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 5:35 p.m. Eastern on the Transporter-8 mission. […]
WASHINGTON — SpaceX launched more than 50 satellites early April 15 on the latest in a series of dedicated Falcon 9 smallsat rideshare missions. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on the Transporter-7 mission at 2:48 a.m. Eastern, after several days of weather-related delays. […]
Picking up where it left off in 2022, SpaceX launched its first Falcon 9 of the new year Tuesday, boosting 114 small satellites and other payloads to orbit in the company’s sixth “rideshare” mission, designed to provide low-cost access to space for smaller payloads. Using a first stage making a […]