Satellite News

The launch of the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Orion spacecraft for Lockheed Martin was scrubbed today when, after an extended hold for ground wind conditions, the liquid hydrogen fill and drain valves on both the port and centre common booster cores did not properly close within the allotted time.

In keeping with the CNES/CSG safety regulations, the launch of Arianespace Flight 221 has been postponed due to unfavourable weather conditions over the launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana.

The launch of the Sino-Brazilian CBERS-4 satellite aboard a Chang Zheng 4B is scheduled for 0326 UTC on 7 December from Tayuan, China.

Russia plans 11 Proton-M launches from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in 2015.

Airbus Defence and Space said it is creating a “super clock” for the European Space Agency (ESA) that comprises two atomic clocks as well as laser and microwave links to the Earth. The ACES (AtomicClock Ensemble in Space) will run at a precision equal to 1×10-16 a loss of just one second every 300 million years.