Satellite News

Skybox Imaging announced the release of the world’s first high-resolution, high-definition video of Earth taken by a commercial remote sensing satellite. These videos were taken by SkySat-1, the first of Skybox’s planned constellation of 24 satellites.

Rocket: Rokot/Briz-KM; Payload: three Rodnik satellites [Kosmos-2488, Kosmos-2489, Kosmos-2490]; Date: 25 December 2013, 0031 UTC; Launch site: Plesetsk, Russia. The three military satellites have reached their target orbit, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Rocket: Proton M/Briz M; Payload: Ekspress AM5; Date: 26 December 2013, 1049 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Separation of the satellite from the upper stage took place at 2012 UTC, the inofficial RussianSpaceWeb.com web site reported.

The first test launch of the new Russian light rocket Soyuz-2.1v (aka Soyuz ‘light’) from the Plesetsk cosmodrome has been postponed until 27 December.

The missile warning sensor for the third Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Geosynchronous Orbiting (GEO) satellite completed final acceptance testing and was shipped to Lockheed Martin Space Systems company (LMSSC) in Sunnyvale, California, for final integration on 18 December 2013.

Saft said the company achieved a milestone when the 100th satellite to use the company’s pioneering Li-ion battery technology launched earlier this month.

Rocket: Soyuz-STB/Fregat; Payload: Gaia; Date: 19 December 2013, 0912 UTC; Launch site: Sinnamary, French Guiana. The workhorse launcher performed a powered phase of its three lower stages, and two burns of the autonomous Fregat upper stage to deploy Gaia, which had an estimated lift-off mass of 2,034 kg and was released 41 minutes and 59 seconds after lift-off.

NASA has selected United Launch Services LLC to launch the Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission to Mars.