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Showing posts with the label rocket

Amazon taps Falcon 9 rocket to help launch Kuiper satellites

Amazon on Friday said it booked three Falcon 9 launches with Elon Musk's SpaceX to help deploy the e-commerce giant's Project Kuiper satellite network, tapping a rival in the satellite internet business for its multi-billion dollar launch campaign. Amazon aims to build Kuiper as a constellation of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit to beam broadband internet globally and compete with SpaceX's Starlink network, which already has some 5,000 satellites providing nearly global coverage. Amazon, which vowed in 2019 to invest $10 billion into the project, will put an unspecified number of Kuiper satellites on three Falcon 9 rockets from SpaceX beginning in mid-2025, the company said Friday. The Falcon 9 missions add to 83 rocket launch es it had already procured from Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin, the Boeing-Lockheed, joint venture United Launch Alliance and Europe's Arianespace in a multi-billion dollar launch deal. Amazon was sued by a shar...

Poland gets 1st U.S.-made HIMARS rocket launchers amid concerns over war in Ukraine

Poland has received its first shipment of U.S.-made HIMARS rocket launchers as part of a defense upgrade amid security concerns due to the war in neighboring Ukraine WARSAW, Poland -- Poland has received its first shipment of U.S.-made HIMARS rocket launchers as part of a defense upgrade amid security concerns due to the war in neighboring Ukraine. Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak and military officials attended an acquisition ceremony at a Warsaw air base on Monday. Blaszczak said that combat in Ukraine had proven the value of the HIMARS and that NATO member Poland was seeking to procure additional launchers, with a goal of acquiring some 500 units. “We are watching the developments in Ukraine, and we know that artillery has a key role in the war, in repelling the Russian invasion," he said. Under a 2019 contract, Poland is spending some $414 million (380 million euros) to buy 18 advanced combat HIMARS launcher s and two HIMARS training launcher s, with ammunition and related e...

Ukraine: Russia put rocket launchers at nuclear power plant

Ukrainian officials claim Russian forces have installed multiple rocket launchers at Ukraine’s shut-down Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant KYIV, Ukraine -- Russian forces have installed multiple rocket launchers at Ukraine's shut-down Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukrainian officials claimed Thursday, raising fears Europe's largest atomic power station could be used as a base to fire on Ukrainian territory and heightening radiation dangers. Ukraine's nuclear company Energoatom said in a statement that Russian forces occupying the plant have placed several Grad multiple rocket launchers near one of its six nuclear reactors. It said the offensive systems are located at new “protective structures” the Russians secretly built, "violating all conditions for nuclear and radiation safety.” The claim could not be independently verified. The Soviet-built multiple rocket launchers are capable of firing rockets at ranges of up to 40 kilometers (25 miles), and Energoato...