Satellite News

Eutelsat Communications announced that Michel de Rosen has informed the Board of Directors that he will step down from his position as Chief Executive Officer in March 2016. He will remain in the role of non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Eutelsat until the end of his current mandate in November 2016, at which point his mandate will be submitted to the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting for renewal.

Pre-launch activity for Arianespace’s Ariane 5 mission on 10 November is gearing up – with both satellite passengers undergoing preparations in French Guiana.

On 15 October 2015, a NASA mission broke its own record: the four satellites of its Magnetospheric Multiscale mission are now flying at their smallest separation, the tightest multi-spacecraft formation ever flown in orbit. The four spacecraft are just 10 km apart, flying in what’s called a tetrahedral formation, with each spacecraft at the tip of a four-sided pyramid. The close formation is all the more impressive as the spacecraft speed along at up to 24,000 km per hour and – with their booms extended – each spacecraft covers as much area as a professional baseball stadium.

International Launch Services successfully launched the TURKSAT 4B satellite into a 9,169 km x 35,759 km x 13 degrees geostationary transfer orbit on an ILS Proton vehicle. The satellite was built by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation for Turksat Satellite Communication, Cable TV and Operation Inc. Co. (Turksat A.S.). This was the second Proton launch for both the satellite operator and the manufacturer; it was also the 6th Proton launch of the year.

International Launch Services successfully launched the TURKSAT 4B satellite into a 9,169 km x 35,759 km x 13 degrees geostationary transfer orbit on an ILS Proton vehicle. The satellite was built by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation for Turksat Satellite Communication, Cable TV and Operation Inc. Co. (Turksat A.S.). This was the second Proton launch for both the satellite operator and the manufacturer; it was also the 6th Proton launch of the year.

Rocket: Proton M/Briz M; Payload: TURKSAT-4B; Date: 16 October 2015, 2040 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

Rocket: Chang Zheng-3B/G2; Payload: Apstar-9; Date: 16 October 2015, 1616 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. 26 minutes after lift-off , the satellite successfully entered transfer orbit after separating from the rocket.

Orbcomm Inc. announced that Orbcomm and SpaceX plan to launch eleven OG2 satellites from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on the next launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket targeted to take place in the next six to eight weeks.