Satellite News

The ESA-Roskosmos ExoMars 2016 spacecraft are ready to depart Europe for the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, to prepare for their launch in March.

Bangladesh has signed a US$250 million deal with French-Italian firm Thales Alenia Space to build the country’s first communications satellite, officials said.

One year since Philae made its historic landing on a comet, mission teams remain hopeful for renewed contact with the lander, while also looking ahead to next year’s grand finale: making a controlled impact of the Rosetta orbiter on the comet.

Iceye announced a US$2.8 million Series A funding round led by True Ventures, with participation from Lifeline Ventures and Founder.org. In September, ICEYE also secured EUR2.5 million in R&D funding from SME Instrument within EU Horizon 2020. Iceye provides quick-response imagery from space with microsatellites equipped with imaging radar technology.

International Launch Services (ILS) announced a Multi-Launch Agreement with Intelsat for five ILS Proton missions through 2023 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

China is preparing to launch a new-generation quick-response rocket in 2016 to seize more of the international commercial launch market, Chinese state media reported.

Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) wholly-owned subsidiary Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) recently completed successful testing and demonstration of three different propellant combinations for its existing 134-kN (30,000-lbf) thrust vortex rocket engine.

Thales Alenia Space announced that it has signed a contract with BTRC, (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission) to build the telecommunications satellite, Bangabandhu, winning the contract against an international field of competitors.