With the Ariane 6 seeing progress at last and Avio leaving Arianespace, the European Space Agency takes steps toward a competition for Europe’s future launchers.
The SLC-40 upgrade has been spurred by SpaceX’s plans to launch the Starship Super Heavy from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B, but NASA had concerns.
Ovzon of Sweden plans to launch its Ovzon 3 geostationary communications satellite, which has an antenna that can generate steerable spot beams, as soon as December 2023.
SpaceX says the FAA’s review process, exacerbated by a technical staff shortfall , has left it waiting for a month to launch an integrated Starship-Super Heavy.
The Space Development Agency said the launch manifest included Transport satcoms from Lockheed Martin Space and York Space Systems, and a SpaceX Tracking sat.
Euclid was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on July 1 and reached its operational orbit at the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L2) four weeks later.