Satellite News

Space Systems Loral (SSL) was selected to provide a communications satellite to PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk, the largest telecommunication and network provider in Indonesia.

Sea Launch may return to the launch services market in the coming months, the company’s CEO Sergei Gugkayev was quoted as saying by TASS.

British small satellite manufacturer Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) on 28 December marked the 10th year of in-orbit operations from its GIOVE-A satellite, the pathfinder mission for Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation programme.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B/G2; Payload: Gaofen-4 (GF-4); Date: 28 December 2015, 1605 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The geostationary remote sensing satellite was placed in a 205 km x 35,806 km x 23 degrees transfer orbit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on dissolving the country’s Federal Space Agency in line with the creation of the Roskosmos state corporation. The agency will be dissolved in accordance with a federal law of 13 July 2015.

The launch and flight of a Proton-M launch vehicle carrying the Russian communications satellite Ekspress-AMU1 proceeded nominally. At the design time, the orbital block comprising the Ekspress-AMU1 SC and Briz-M upper stage separated from the Proton’s Stage III and continued the mission in the autonomous mode. Subsequently, the spacecraft was injected in its 4,324 km x 35,769 km x 22 degrees target orbit using the Briz-M upper stage main engine.

Rocket: Proton M/Briz M; Payload: Ekspress AMU1 (aka Eutelsat 36C); Date: 24 December 2015, 2131 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The rocket lifted off after a 24-hour delay caused by high winds.

ULA has ordered 20 more RD-180 rocket engines from Russia, on top of 29 engines ordered last year.