Satellite News

Russia’s Spektr-UV spacecraft [also known as Spektr-UF, Spektr-F and World Space Observatory-Ultraviolet (WSO-UV)], will reportedly not be launched before 2020 instead of 2016 as previously planned, partly because of restrictions on U.S.-made parts.

The launch of an ILS Proton launch vehicle with the Astra 2G satellite was postponed due to the off-nominal operation of the Briz M upper stage gyro unit during planned pre-flight testing.

The fifth SpaceX cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract is scheduled to launch on Tuesday, 16 December from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Payload processing for Arianespace’s third Soyuz mission at the service of O3b Networks has reached full speed, with all four connectivity satellites now at the Spaceport – where fuelling and integration operations are underway.

European Union antitrust regulators have, under conditions, cleared the proposed joint venture by Airbus Group and Safran.

Inmarsat has signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the Iris Precursor partnership which will upgrade SwiftBroadband to meet the standards set for ground-based VHF data links.

The first flight test of NASA’s Orion spacecraft is scheduled for Thursday, 4 December.

The next launch of a Russian navigation satellite GLONASS-K from the Plesetsk cosmodrome is scheduled for 30 November (UTC).