Satellite News

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) decided to launch the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 24 (H-IIA F24) with the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) onboard on 24 May.

SpaceX said it was now targeting 30 March for the CRS-3 launch, with April second as a back-up. These represent the earliest available launch opportunities given existing schedules, and are currently pending approval with the Range.

The Astra 5B satellite, one of two passengers for Arianespace’s next Ariane 5 mission, has been delivered to the Guiana Space Center’s Final Assembly Building.

The telecommunications spacecraft Ekspress-AM5, designed and constructed by ISS-Reshetnev Company, has finally completed a 2.5-month journey to its intended position in geostationary orbit.

NASA’s preparing to send its fifth in a series of smartphone-controlled small spacecraft into orbit. PhoneSat 2.5 will ride into space as part of the SpaceX CRS-3 commercial cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. CRS-3 is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at the end of March (two weeks later than previously planned – cf. separate article in this issue).

Engineers have restored NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to full operations, following an unplanned swap of duplicate computers aboard the spacecraft on 9 March.

China’s troubled Yutu moon rover woke up again, though the mechanical troubles that have plagued it remain, the government said.

A new study by ESA’s Clean Space initiative – tasked with reducing the space industry’s environmental impacts on both Earth and space – aims to evaluate battery behaviour after a satellite shuts down, assessing the risk of breakup and ensuring full ‘passivation’.