Satellite News

ESA’s space freighter ATV Albert Einstein will be the heaviest spacecraft ever launched into space by an Ariane rocket when it lifts off to the International Space Station on 5 June.

The Kazakh space agency said plans to launch its first medium-resolution remote sensing satellite in the fourth quarter of 2013 from Russia’s Yasny Cosmodrome.

Russia’s NPO Lavochkin has won a defence ministry tender on the development of a series of five high-resolution optical-electronic surveillance satellites worth almost RUB70 billion (US$2.2 billion).

Belarus and Russia are planning to set up an advanced civilian satellite grouping, Pyotr Vityaz, a spokesman for the Belarusian National Academy of Sciences, was quoted as saying.