Satellite News

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has exploded on the launch pad during preparations for a routine static fire test. Nobody was injured, however the rocket’s payload, Space-Communication’s Amos 6 satellite, was destroyed.

There is growing speculation that the launch of the Gaofen-10 remote sensing satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China aboard a Chang Zheng-4C has failed. Lift-off was scheduled for 31 August at around 1850 UTC. There has been no official confirmation so far.

NASA has awarded a contract extension to Lockheed Martin Space Systems Corporation to continue maintaining the health and safety of the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope observatory through the next phase of its science mission.