Satellite News

Within the scope of its preparations for the VV04 mission, the European Space Agency (ESA), in conjunction with French space agency CNES, has decided to carry out additional flight trajectory analyses for the scheduled Vega launch of IXV.

The first launch of the heavy class rocket Angara-A5 is scheduled for 25 December, the deputy general designer of the Khrunichev Space Center, Yuri Bakhvalov was quoted as saying.

Airbus Defence and Space has begun operations at its new integration centre for satellite propulsion components and sub-systems in Lampoldshausen. More than EUR2.5 million have been invested in the new building, increasing the available production area from approximately 2,500 to 3,100 square metres. The new centre enables the integration of larger components and systems.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3C/G2; Payload: Chang’e 5-T1, 4M; Dare: 23 October 2014, 1759 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The Chang’e 5-T1 test spacecraft is due to make a lunar flyby before returning to Earth in eight days’ time.

Orbital Sciences Corp. will launch its next mission to resupply the International Space Station on Monday, 27 October.

New reports suggest that the recent launch of Ekspress AM6 aboard a Proton M/Briz M was not as successful as officially announced, and that the achieved orbit was below specifications. However, the satellite is still expected to be able to reach its final orbit.

The Ekspress-AM6 telecommunications satellite, designed and built by ISS-Reshetnev Company, was successfully launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome on 21 October 2014.

NASA has awarded a sole source contract modification to Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, of Azusa, California, for the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) Instrument for flight on the Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) mission.