Space Voyaging

Ariane 6 Launches the New Sentinel-1D Earth Observation Satellite | Space Voyaging Sentinel-1D will join the other satellites of the EU's Copernicus Programme to monitor our planet. The flight marks the fourth launch of the Ariane 6 rocket

🚀 Today, the fourth Ariane 6 rocket successfully launched and deployed into orbit the Sentinel-1D Earth observation satellite.

🛰️ #Sentinel1D will replace Sentinel-1A, supporting the Copernicus Programme, managed by the @ec.europa.eu and @esa.int.

Read more:
www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/11...

Vast Reaches Orbit for the First Time with its New Haven Demo | Space Voyaging Vast’s Haven Demo reaches orbit aboard SpaceX’s Bandwagon-4, marking the company’s first major milestone toward its ambitious private station roadmap

🚀 Aboard SpaceX's Bandwagon-4 mission, @vast launched its technology demonstrator Haven Demo to test critical systems for Haven-1.

Vast has already completed most of the major milestones for the first module, ahead of a possible launch in 2026.

Read more:
www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/11...

Germany Pours Billions into Space Defence to Boost Europe’s Sovereign Deterrence | Space Voyaging Germany aims to consolidate its role in Europe’s defence, with the development of early-warning capabilities, and further multinational collaboration in orbit

Recently, the German government announced a €35 billion investment in space defence projects by 2030.

🛰️ Berlin is also working with France to develop a European satellite early warning system, consolidating its position in Europe and NATO.

Read more:
www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/10...

Rocket Lab Deploys New StriX Synspective Satellite | Space Voyaging On October 15 NZT, Rocket Lab launched the "Owl New World" mission for Synspective, carrying a new StriX SAR satellite to join the company's constellation

🚀 Today, @rocketlabcorp.com successfully launched a new StriX SAR satellite for Synspective from New Zealand.

🛰️ “Owl New World” is Rocket Lab’s seventh launch for Synspective in a series of missions to deploy their Earth-imaging constellation.

Read more:
www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/10...

Unveiling Arc, the New Orbital Courier by Inversion Space | Space Voyaging Inversion presents Arc, a reusable spacecraft designed for on-demand orbital delivery and hypersonic testing, aiming to reshape space logistics as early as 2026

Recently, Inversion unveiled Arc, an innovative space-based delivery vehicle.

Arc enables rapid cargo drop-offs anywhere on Earth in under an hour from orbit while providing a platform for hypersonic testing.

Read more: www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/10...

NASA Gives New Life to the VIPER Lunar Mission | Space Voyaging NASA revives the VIPER rover, signing a $190M option for Blue Origin to land on the Moon in 2027, after demonstrating the Blue Moon MK-1 lander's reliability

🌕 VIPER will have a second life. Blue Origin has been selected to deliver the rover to the Moon aboard the second Blue Moon Mk1 lander in 2027.

Previously, in July 2024, NASA canceled the VIPER mission due to cost and schedule pressure.

Read more:
www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/09...

Thales-Leonardo-Airbus Joint Venture could debut in 2025 | Space Voyaging The first agreements for the future strategic European satellite joint venture could be finalized in the coming months between Thales, Airbus and Leonardo

🤝 A top Airbus executive confirmed that the first agreements for the JV with Thales and Leonardo could be signed in 2025.

🛰️ The project aims to create a leading European satellite manufacturer capable of competing with major global players.

Article:
www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/09...

Astrobotic Will Launch Xodiac From the New Andoya Spaceport | Space Voyaging Astrobotic will bring its reusable Xodiac lander testbed to Andoya in 2026, marking Europe’s first rocket landings and expanding the Northern spaceport role

🤝 Recently, Astrobotic signed a term sheet with Andøya Space to bring its reusable vertical takeoff and landing test vehicle, Xodiac, to Norway.

The first European campaigns are expected to begin in 2026.

Read more:
www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/09...

ESA Boosts Isar and Avio in the New FTI Round | Space Voyaging ESA signs the first FTI (Flight Ticket Initiative) round of contracts, securing five IOD and IOV missions with Isar’s Spectrum and Avio’s Vega-C from 2026

🚀 Today, @esa.int awarded Avio and Isar Aerospace the first five missions of the Flight Ticket Initiative, in collaboration with the European Commission.

🛰️The contracts cover in-orbit demonstration and validation missions (IOD/IOV).

Read more: www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/08...

ESA Boosts Isar and Avio in the New FTI Round | Space Voyaging ESA signs the first FTI (Flight Ticket Initiative) round of contracts, securing five IOD and IOV missions with Isar’s Spectrum and Avio’s Vega-C from 2026

🚀 Today, @esa.int awarded Avio and Isar Aerospace the first five missions of the Flight Ticket Initiative, in collaboration with the European Commission.

🛰️The contracts cover in-orbit demonstration and validation missions (IOD/IOV).

Read more: www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/08...

Skyrora Cleared for UK Suborbital Launches with New License | Space Voyaging Skyrora is the first UK company to secure a suborbital commercial launch license from British soil, marking a major step in Britain’s sovereign space ambitions

🇬🇧 Skyrora has become the first UK-based space company to secure a launch license for a commercial vehicle.

🚀 The CAA license authorizes up to 16 launches of the Skylark L sub-orbital rocket from Scotland’s SaxaVord spaceport.

Read more: www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/08...

Gilmour Space Attempts Its First Launch and Fails | Space Voyaging The first orbital Australian-made rocket, Eris, by Gilmour Space, lifted off the Bowen Orbital Spaceport but crashed on the ground shortly after

Today, Gilmour Space attempted the first historical orbital launch from Australian soil.

🚀 The Eris rocket, however, fell back to the ground 14 seconds after liftoff due to multiple engine failures.

Read more: www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/07...

Transporter-14, A New Successful Rideshare Mission by SpaceX | Space Voyaging SpaceX’s Transporter-14 deployed 70 payloads, including Europe’s Nyx demo capsule and Varda’s W‑4, both pushing the frontier of reentry and space manufacturing

🚀 Last night, SpaceX launched Transporter-14 from Vandenberg, carrying 70 payloads, including Varda's W-4 and Mission Possible for The Exploration Company.

🛰️ The mission also delivered seven satellites from Argotec for the Italian IRIDE constellation.

Article:
www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/06...

Proba-3 Released the First Self-Eclipsed Image of the Sun’s Corona | Space Voyaging ESA’s Proba-3 creates the first artificial solar eclipse in space, opening a new era in solar corona research through two-spacecraft precision formation flying

☀️ On Monday, @esa.int released the first image from a groundbreaking mission: the creation of an artificial total solar eclipse in space.

🛰️ The experiment was accomplished by Proba-3, a pair of satellites flying in precise formation around Earth.

Read more: www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/06...

ispace’s Second Hakuto-R Lunar Landing Attempt Ends in Silence | Space Voyaging Ispace Hakuto-R's second lunar mission failed, but the company’s plans continue with new landers and rovers aimed at building a sustainable lunar economy

🌕 ispace's second #Hakuto-R mission failed to safely land on the surface of the Moon.

Initial analyses indicate that an instrumentation error prevented a nominal descent, resulting in a hard impact and the loss of communications with the lander.

Read more: www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/06...

Sierra Space Expands on Its new Lunar Contract for NASA | Space Voyaging Sierra Space reveals details of its NASA lunar logistics contract, expanding its LIFE habitat technology from LEO to Moon missions under the Artemis program

🌕 Sierra Space has been awarded a contract by NASA to explore how its LIFE inflatable habitat could be repurposed for staging, transport, and storage on the Moon.

The study contract falls under NASA’s NextSTEP-2 Appendix R initiative.

Read more: www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/05...

And about the Super Heavy loss:

"The FAA determined that the loss of the Super Heavy booster is covered by one of the approved test induced damage exceptions requested by SpaceX for certain flight events and system components."

"The FAA subsequently determined the debris did not fall outside of the hazard area. During the event there were zero departure delays, one flight was diverted, and one airborne flight was held for 24 minutes."

"The FAA activated a Debris Response Area, out of an abundance of caution, when the Super Heavy booster experienced its anomaly over the Gulf of America during its flyback toward Texas."

The FAA is requiring an investigation for the SpaceX Starship Flight 9 mishap.

This only applies to the Ship loss, the Super Heavy vehicle loss was under a test objective cover

ULA says that the launch of Kuiper 2 Mission for Project Kuiper, the second batch of production satellites for Amazon, on an Atlas V 551 rocket is planned for June 13, 2025, pending range approval.

Liftoff scheduled for 2:29 p.m. EDT with a 30-min window, from SLC-41, Florida

🚀 Following FAA's approval, SpaceX is preparing for the ninth #Starship flight test, the first to feature a flight-proven Super Heavy booster.

Here’s a deep dive into what went wrong during Flight 8 and what to expect for the next launch from Starbase: www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/05...

Reflect Orbital: A New Dawn for Earth’s Nighttime Illumination | Space Voyaging Reflect's project aims to revolutionize nighttime lighting on Earth using orbital mirrors, drawing inspiration from past experiments like Znamya-2

☀️ Reflect Orbital is raising funds to deploy a constellation of mirrors in orbit designed to illuminate specific areas on Earth.

According to the company, it will be possible to request sunlight, initially at the intensity of a full moon, on demand.

Read more: www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/05...

A New Ride on Electron: The Sea God Sees | Space Voyaging Rocket Lab’s Electron launches QPS-SAR-10 “WADATSUMI-I” from New Zealand, boosting iQPS’s Japanese satellite constellation for high-res Earth observation

🚀 This morning, @rocketlabusa.com successfully launched the third dedicated Electron mission for iQPS, delivering a SAR imaging satellite.

🛰️ The Japanese Earth imaging company aims to deploy a constellation of 36 satellites by 2027.

Read more: www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/05...

"The FAA is expanding the size of aircraft and maritime hazard areas both in the U.S. and other countries. This is a result of the FAA requiring SpaceX to revise the Flight Safety Analysis following prior launch mishap and because intends to reuse a previously launched booster for the first time"

In addition, they stated:

"However, SpaceX may not launch until the FAA either closes the Starship Flight 8 mishap investigation or makes a return to flight determination. The FAA is reviewing the mishap report SpaceX submitted on May 14."

The FAA has just released the following statement about SpaceX's Starship Flight 9:

Rocket Lab’s Neutron Rocket to Provide Cargo Delivery for the U.S. Air Force | Space Voyaging Rocket Lab’s Neutron rocket secures AFRL mission for 2026, amid new contracts, legal scrutiny, and rapid progress toward its first flight later this year

🚀 The USAF Research Laboratory has selected Rocket Lab to conduct a Neutron demonstration mission to test reentry and rapid cargo delivery capabilities.

Neutron is undergoing hardware qualification testing in preparation for its maiden flight.

Read more: www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/05...

Interlune Signs Contract to Deliver Lunar Helium-3 Starting in 2029 | Space Voyaging Interlune signs first-ever deal to deliver Moon-sourced helium-3 to the U.S. Department of Energy by 2029, paving the way for the future space resource economy

🌕 @interlune.bsky.social signed a historic agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Isotope Program to supply helium-3 harvested from the Moon, starting in 2029.

The company recently unveiled a full-scale prototype of its lunar excavator.

Read more: www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/05...

Firefly Alpha carrying Lockheed Martin Satellite suffered Stage Separation Mishap | Space Voyaging Firefly launched the Lockheed Martin's LM 400 tech demo abord its Alpha Rocket, however, a mishap during stage separation may have compromised the mission

🚀 A Firefly's Alpha rocket launch from Vandenberg suffered a mishap during stage separation.

🛰️ The #FLTA006 mission was carrying Lockheed Martin's LM 400 tech demo satellite. As of now, it is unclear whether the payload has reached orbit.

Read more:
www.spacevoyaging.com/news/2025/04...