On the second attempt, the aircraft crew released its payload at 9:59 p.m. EDT and automated systems on the Pegasus rocket launched ICON, a spacecraft roughly the size of a refrigerator, into space.
A Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket launched NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, satellite at 9:59 p.m. EDT on Oct. 10 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) to study the dynamic zone in our atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather from above.The satellite was attached to the Pegasus XL rocket, which hitched a ride on the company’s L-1011 Stargazer aircraft. Once the aircraft reached an altitude of 39,000 feet, the rocket was dropped, with ignition occurring five seconds after.
From the October 9 update of the SFN Launch Schedule: launch delayed to February 15, 2020.
Notice that the slide in the above post says "Cape Canaveral." That is not an error. The launch site for this mission has been changed to the Cape.https://twitter.com/nextspaceflight/status/1182025275573510146
Als already pointed out here by su27k, the image on the X-Bow website shows the Hawaiian Super Strypi / Spark launcher. Also, X-Bow has been advocating for a launch site in Hawaii and is planning two satellite launches, the first one from Kauai (here on page 8 ). These launches were planned for 2018 and 2019, but obviously did slip.
WASHINGTON — SpaceX has asked the International Telecommunication Union to arrange spectrum for 30,000 additional Starlink satellites. SpaceX, which is already planning the world’s largest low-Earth-orbit broadband constellation by far, filed paperwork in recent weeks for up to 30,000 additional Starlink satellites on top of the 12,000 already approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.The FCC, on SpaceX’s behalf, submitted 20 filings to the ITU for 1,500 satellites apiece in various low Earth orbits, an ITU official confirmed Oct. 15 to SpaceNews.
FALCON 9The next SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral is scheduled to launch the second Starlink space-based internet constellation mission on October-November TBD. Other upcoming launches include the next launches for the Starlink internet constellation on November-December TBD; the launch of the JCSAT-18/Kacific-1 commsat for Japan as early as November TBD; an in-flight abort test of the Crew Dragon capsule on late November or early December; the CRS-19 Dragon resupply mission to the ISS on December 4 at around 1pm EST; and the third GPS III satellite for the US Air Force in January.
Possible pad switch to 39A.Quote from: Michael Baylor on 10/03/2019 07:37 pm1856-EX-ST-2019Looks like JCSAT-18 may be moving to Pad 39A. At the very least, they now have the option to launch the mission from either pad.
1856-EX-ST-2019Looks like JCSAT-18 may be moving to Pad 39A. At the very least, they now have the option to launch the mission from either pad.
Slip to 15 December:https://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/
The next SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral is scheduled to launch the second Starlinkspace-based internet constellation mission on November TBD.
Virgin Orbit has big plans to send small spacecraft to Mars, as soon as 2022. The company — an offshoot of Richard Branson’s space tourism company Virgin Galactic — announced today that it is partnering with nearly a dozen Polish universities and a Polish satellite maker called SatRevolution to design up to three robotic missions to the Red Planet over the next decade....While these are all very lofty dreams, LauncherOne has yet to make its first flight. The Virgin Orbit team is getting close after performing a number of tests with both Cosmic Girl and the rocket, and Pomerantz says the plan is to fly the rocket before the end of the year (though the original goal was to fly this summer). The first flight will be critical for the company, paving the way for regular commercial operations and these potential deep-space flights.
ATLAS 5The next United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, flying with two solid rocket boosters, will launch Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on its first flight, an uncrewed demonstration mission to the International Space Station, on December 17. Sunrise is 7:08am. Then, an Atlas 5 flying with one SRB will launch Solar Orbiter for NASA & Europe on Feb 5 at 11:15pm EST.FALCON 9The next SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral is scheduled to launch the second Starlink space-based internet constellation mission on November TBD. Other upcoming launches include the next launches for the Starlink internet constellation on November-December TBD; an in-flight abort test of the Crew Dragon capsule on late November or early December, likely in the morning EST; the CRS-19 Dragon resupply mission to the ISS on December 4 at around 1pm EST; the launch of the JCSAT-18/Kacific-1 commsat for Japan in mid-December TBD, in the evening EST; and the third GPS III satellite for the US Air Force in January.
2019NET December - ELaNa XX: CACTUS 1, CAPE 3, ExoCube 2, INCA, MiTEE 1, PICS 1, PICS 2, PolarCube, Q-PACE, RadFxSat 2 (Fox 1E), TechEdSat 7 - LauncherOne (flight 2) - Runway 12/30 Mojave Air and Space Port, Boeing 747 "Cosmic Girl"
2020NET January - STP-27VP mission: MiniCarb, ELaNa 29: PAN A, PAN B - LauncherOne (flight 3) - Runway15/33, Cape Canaveral, Boeing 747 "Cosmic Girl"
February 7 - Cygnus NG-13 (CRS-13) - Antares-230 - MARS LP-0A
NET August - Dragon v2 SpX-21 (CRS-21), Bishop (NanoRacks Airlock Module) - Falcon 9 - Kennedy LC-39A
October - Cygnus NG-14 (CRS-14), IT-Spins - Antares-230 - MARS LP-0A
PARIS — Global IP, a British Cayman Islands startup planning a mobile satellite project for Africa, is attempting a resurrection after running out of money in 2018, less than a year before launch, and public allegations that it, along with its satellite supplier, Boeing, and its law firm, Milbank LLP, were complicit in a coverup of illicit Chinese government control of the project....Your Commerce Department license was suspended in December 2018. Where is that now?It was a license given to Boeing to sell a satellite to a Cayman company. Commerce has looked at the process and looked at our setup and concluded that all the sensitive aspects are being handled in the U.S., by U.S. people. The satellite is being built in the U.S. and launched in the U.S., with TT&C being handled in Europe and landing in Africa.And your launch contract with SpaceX?We paid a deposit on that and so we still expect our launch will be with them.
“That round will carry us past first flight of Terran 1,” said Jordan Noone, co-founder and chief technology officer of Relativity, in an interview. “This round is all the capital required to get to first flight, build out more of the Mississippi test site, Launch Complex 16 in Florida and expand our L.A. headquarters and manufacturing.”That first launch, once scheduled for late 2020, is now planned for February 2021....Relativity has announced four customers to date, including major satellite operator Telesat, smallsat aggregator Spaceflight, and startups Momentus and mu Space. “There’s much more in work,” Noone said, promising to “double down” on customer announcements now that the funding round has closed.
The first flight of Firefly's small-satellite rocket, Alpha, is scheduled for launch in the first quarter of 2020 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Firefly is renovating launch pads at Vandenberg and at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Rocket Crafters, though, won’t have a first-mover advantage in the launch market. The company says the Intrepid-1 won’t be ready before early 2021.
In January 2019, SpinLaunch moved from Silicon Valley to its new 140,000 square foot headquarters in Long Beach, California and last month broke ground on a new $7 million test facility on 10 acres at New Mexico’s Spaceport America. First kinetic energy flight tests are expected to occur early 2020 and the company has announced its plans for first launch by 2022.
