Satellite News

Rocket: Soyuz 2-1a; Payload: Progress MS-02 [Progress 63P]; Date: 31 March 2016, 1623 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The cargo capsule separated from the Soyuz’ third stage nine minutes after lift-off as planned. Deployment of the navigation antennas and two solar array wings was confirmed subsequently.

Objects in space will soon be monitored by a radar array for the U.S. Air Force’s Space Fence as part of Lockheed Martin’s new test site representative of the larger system under construction on the remote Kwajalein Island.

The navigation satellite set to become the 16th in the Galileo constellation has been taken through a Europe-wide rehearsal for its launch and early operations in space.

A new Blagovest heavy-class communications satellite is being developed by Russia’s Information Satellite Systems – Reshetnev, the company said.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has been trying to communicate with the X-ray Astronomy Satellite “Hitomi” (ASTRO-H), using ground stations both in Japan and overseas.

The launch of the MUOS-5 satellite aboard an Atlas V has been delayed to no earlier than 12 May pending the outcome of the investigation into an in-flight anomaly encountered on the OA-6 mission on 22 March.

Isotropic Systems Limited (ISL) announced it secured an additional US$1 million in funding to develop satellite antenna technology for high throughput connectivity in mobility markets.

UAE-based satellite operator, Yahsat, has been awarded a license to operate its Ka-band satellite, Al Yah 3, by the National Telecommunications Agency, ANATEL, in Brazil.