Satellite News

Rocket: Soyuz 2-1v; Payload: AIST, two calibration spheres plus some ballast mass; Date: 28 December 2013, 1234 UTC; Launch site: Plesetsk, Russia. The inaugural mission of the new rocket was a success, its manufacturer TsSKB Progress said.

ISRO said the Mission Readiness Review (MRR) team and the Launch Authorisation Board (LAB) have cleared the GSLV-D5/GSAT 14 launch at 1158 UTC on 5 January 2014.

China Great Wall Industry Corporation said that TKSat-1 has arrived at 87.2 degrees West. The satellite was handed over to Bolivia on 27 December.

The Ekspress-AM5 telecommunications spacecraft, designed and constructed by Information Satellite Systems – Reshetnev Company, was successfully launched into supersynchronous transfer orbit on 26 December 2013. A ground control station received signals from the spacecraft, verifying it is healthy in orbit – solar panels deployed, the onboard equipment is performing as designed, Sun acquisition has been completed successfully.

NASA and JAXA selected 1807 to 2007 UTC on 27 February as the launch date and launch window for a Japanese H-IIA rocket carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory satellite from JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center.

The inaugural launch of the Soyuz-2-1v rocket has again been rescheduled. Lift-off from Plesetsk is now planned for 28 December, 1000 UTC.

The multi-role Athena-Fidus satellite has completed initial checkout at the Spaceport as it is readied for a dual-payload, geostationary transfer orbit launch on Arianespace’s first flight in 2014.

The launch of Russia’s Spektr-RG satellite has been delayed until 2015 owing to problems with a German-built telescope.