Rocket

Virgin Orbit, the rocket company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, has filed for bankruptcy after announcing to lay off 85 per cent of its employees.

3D-printed rocket: Relativity Space, the aerospace company behind the launch, said that the launch was a 'huge win'

Last-minute technical trouble forced SpaceX to call off Monday's attempt to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA. The countdown was halted with just two minutes remaining until lift-off from Kennedy Space Centre. With just a split second to blast off, there was no time to deal with the problem, which involved the engine ignition system. SpaceX did not immediately say when it would try again. The next attempt could come as early as Tuesday, although poor weather was forecast. Strapped into the capsule atop the Falcon rocket were two NASA astronauts, one Russian cosmonaut and one astronaut from the United Arab Emirates. When informed by SpaceX that the fuel would start to be drained from the rocket, commander Stephen Bowen replied: We'll be sitting here waiting. It was expected to take nearly an hour. Bowen and his crew including the first astronaut from the United Arab Emirates assigned to a months long mission, Sultan al-Neyadi will replace another

Militants fired a rocket into Israel's south Wednesday, the army said, setting off sirens and raising already heightened tensions under the country's new ultranationalist government. Early Thursday, the Israeli military said it started attacking targets in the Gaza Strip in response to rockets. According to local media, Israeli fighter jets struck a militant site in the central Gaza Strip. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The rocket from the Gaza Strip was intercepted, according to the military. Israel usually responds to rocket fire with airstrikes, raising the possibility of further escalation. Local residents reported hearing explosions. Israel's rescue service said it received no reports of injuries except for a 50-year-old woman who slipped and fell while running to a shelter. The action in Israel's skies Wednesday comes after Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group has threatened Israel over the combative stance of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has

We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit. We are evaluating the information, tweeted Virgin Orbit

Can India launch space firms like Skyroot into higher orbit?

India's first privately-developed rocket, Vikram-S, blasted off towards the sky this month. Find out how India's commercial space industry may become a tech powerhouse and taste commercial success

A Russian rocket struck the maternity wing of a hospital in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, killing a newborn boy and critically injuring a doctor. The overnight explosion left the small-town hospital a crumbled mess of bricks, scattering medical supplies across the small compound. It was the second deadly strike on the small town of Vilniansk in a week, and Mayor Nataliya Usienko said she feared it would not be the last. The attack started and the first S300 rocket hit the road. The second rocket hit this place, the main general hospital, at the maternity wing where people were," she said. "One woman gave birth two days ago. She delivered a boy. Unfortunately this rocket took the life of this child who lived only two days.. Six days ago, she said, 11 people died when a Russian rocket hit an apartment building. It's very dangerous to be here, Usienko said. It's 90% certain to be hit again. Municipal workers worked well after sunset to shore up walls at risk of falling, relying o

The launch of a sounding rocket by Skyroot marks the start of a surge in start-ups entering a sector that was opened up only in June 2020

A Nasa-like PPP policy could make India an aerospace powerhouse

Company behind privately developed rocket is looking for investors, says its co-founder

'Great milestone' for Indian space sector as rocket completes parameters for successful launch

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday lauded the successful foray of a private player in the country's space activities and said it was a "historic" moment for India. This accomplishment bears testimony to the immense talent of our youth who took full advantage of the landmark space sector reforms of June 2020, he said. India's first privately-developed rocket lifted off from ISRO's launchpad at Sriharikota. The rocket was completely developed by a four year-old startup, marking the entry of the private sector into the country's space activities, currently dominated by the state-run behemoth ISRO. Skyroot Aerospace is the first privately held company in India after the space sector was opened for private players by the Centre in 2020. "A historic moment for India as the rocket Vikram-S, developed by Skyroot Aerospace, took off from Sriharikota today! It is an important milestone in the journey of India's private space industry. Congrats to @isro & @INSPACeIND for enabling this ...

NASA's new moon rocket blasted off on its debut flight with three test dummies aboard early Wednesday, bringing the US, a big step closer to putting astronauts back on the lunar surface for the first time since the end of the Apollo programme 50 years ago. If all goes well during the three-week, make-or-break shakedown flight, the rocket will propel an empty crew capsule into a wide orbit around the moon, and then the capsule will return to Earth with a splashdown in the Pacific in December. After years of delays and billions in cost overruns, the Space Launch System rocket thundered skyward, rising from Kennedy Space Centre 4 million kilograms of thrust and hitting 160 kph within seconds. The Orion capsule was perched on top, ready to bust out of Earth orbit toward the moon not quite two hours into the flight. The moonshot follows nearly three months of vexing fuel leaks that kept the rocket bouncing between its hangar and the pad. Forced back indoors by Hurricane Ian at the end

India's first privately developed rocket -- Vikram-S -- is set for a November 15 launch on a sub-orbital mission with three payloads, Hyderabad-based space startup Skyroot Aerospace announced on Tuesday. The maiden mission of Skyroot Aerospace, named 'Prarambh' (the beginning), will carry payloads of two Indian and one foreign customers and is set for launch from the Indian Space Research Organisation's launchpad at Sriharikota. "Heartbeats quicken. All gazes are up to the sky. The earth is listening. It all points to 15 Nov 2022 for launch," Skyspace Aerospace said on Friday. The launch is scheduled for 11:30 am, Skyroot Aerospace CEO and co-founder Pawan Kumar Chandana had told PTI. Spacekidz, a Chennai-based aerospace startup, will fly 'Fun-Sat', a 2.5 kg payload developed by students from India, the US, Singapore and Indonesia on the sub-orbital flight on board Vikram-S. With this mission, Skyroot is set to become the first private space company in India to launch a rocket int

The Indian Space Research Orgnisation (ISRO) has for the first time supplied a rocket system to support a private launch vehicle built in the country. Chennai-based space technology startup Agnikul Cosmos received its first flight termination system (FTS) on November 7 from ISRO, with the support of IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre), a single-window autonomous government agency to promote, permit, and oversee private sector space-based activities. "The official handing over event happened marking the culmination of multiple rounds of interactions about interfacing, handling and using these systems on Agnikul's launch vehicle 'Agnibaan', the national space agency headquartered here said in a statement on Friday. "This also marks the first time that a system that has been used for ISRO's vehicles is being supplied for supporting a private launch vehicle built in India. The package will be used for their fully controlled sub-orbital launcher, scheduled

Rocket manufacturing startup, Agnikul Cosmos on Tuesday said that it successfully test fired a second stage semi-cryogenic engine

The rocket, Long March 5B, was used to send the final part of the Tiangong space station called Mengtian to the space station

The flight acceptance hot test of CE-20 engine has been successfully carried out in the High Altitude Test facility of ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu for a duration of 25 seconds. The engine is earmarked for the LVM3-M3 mission identified for launching the next 36 OneWeb India-1 satellites, the Indian Space Research Organisation said. Sources said these satellites of OneWeb, the London-based satellite communications company, are expected to be launched by the NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the ISRO's commercial arm, aboard LVM3 during January-February next year. Friday's flight acceptance test comes within days of the launch of the first set of 36 OneWeb satellites by the NSIL from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC- SHAR) in Sriharikota on October 23. "The cryogenic upper stage of the LVM3 vehicle (C25 stage) is powered by a CE-20 engine working with the LOX-LH2 propellants combination. This engine develops a nominal thrust of 186.36 kN in vacuum",

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has set up a Rs 208 crore Integrated Cryogenic Engine Manufacturing Facility (ICMF) here that would cater to the entire rocket engine production under one roof for Indian Space Research Organisation. President Droupadi Murmu will inaugurate the state-of-the-art ICMF, set up over an area of 4,500 square metres housing over 70 hi-tech equipment and testing facilities for manufacturing cryogenic (CE20) and semi-cryogenic (SE2000) engines of Indian rockets, on Tuesday. In 2013, an MOU was signed with ISRO for establishing the facility for manufacturing cryogenic engine modules at HAL, Aerospace Division, and it was subsequently amended in 2016 for setting up of ICMF with an investment of Rs 208 crore. The commissioning of all the critical equipment for the manufacturing and assembly requirement has been completed, Bengaluru-headquartered HAL said on Monday, adding that the pre-production activities which involve preparation of the process and quality ..

No people were on board for Monday's flight, which was carrying a host of payloads, though a similar version of same vehicle is used to regularly take paying customers to the edge of space and back