Satellite News

A SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 is to launch Thaicom 6 on 3 January between 2250 and 0017 UTC.

The NASA Wallops Flight Facility and Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport are set to support the launch of Orbital Sciences’ Corp. Antares rocket at 1855 on 7 January.

An Iranian aerospace official says the country plans to launch an indigenously designed and manufactured satellite into orbit in early February.

The Energia Rocket and Space Corporation accomplished a full cycle of ground tests, assembly and factory trials of the EgyptSat-2 Earth observation satellite in 2013, a corporation spokesman said.

China’s high-definition Earth observation satellite, the Gaofen-1, has been formally put into service, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) announced.

Taking off into the New Year, the EADS group has been rebranded as “Airbus Group.” Uniting all its activities under a single and strong brand, Airbus Group also renames two of its three Divisions.

NASA last month completed the 30-day Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration or LLCD mission. Hosted aboard the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer known as LADEE, the LLCD was designed to confirm laser communication capabilities from a distance of almost 400,000 km.