Satellite News

Preparations are underway for flight tests of the Angara Space Launch System at the Plesetsk Launch Base, Arkhangelsk Region, Russia.

The Russian Loutch 5V (5B) spacecraft and Kazakhstan’s KazSat 3 communications satellite were delivered to the Baikonur launch base on Monday, 24 March to be processed for a dual launch. Built by Reshetnev ISS, both satellites are to be launched by a Proton M/Briz M launch vehicle.

Orbital Sciences Corporation announced that it has started production of 81 satellites for the Iridium NEXT programme as part of a contract between Orbital and Iridium’s prime contractor, French-Italian aerospace company Thales Alenia Space.

NASA has given a preliminary go-ahead to the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) to proceed with instrument development, vehicle construction and eventual launch of the hurricane-studying mission’s eight microsatellites.

The third Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite has begun transmitting using its protected communications payload, joining two other satellites undergoing system test in orbit with a suite of user terminals. AEHF satellites are produced by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Air Force.

The latest addition to Galileo’s world-wide ground infrastructure has been made in the mid-Atlantic, on Portugal’s Santa Maria island in the Azores.