Satellite News

Rocket: Vega; Payload: LISA Pathfinder; Date: 3 December 2015, 0404 UTC; Launch site: Kourou, French Guiana. The satellite was placed in a 213 km x 1,482 km x 6.0 degrees orbit.

PlanetiQ has signed a contract with Antrix Corporation Limited, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), for the launch of PlanetiQ’s first two weather satellites on a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) during the fourth quarter of 2016.

Virgin Galactic has introduced a Boeing 747 to its fleet of vehicles as part of a technical update on its LauncherOne small satellite launch service. The 747-400 commercial jet aircraft, previously operated by Virgin Atlantic under the nickname ‘Cosmic Girl,’ will provide a dedicated launch platform for the LauncherOne orbital vehicle.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performed an Earth swing-by operation of the Asteroid Explorer “Hayabusa2” on 3 December.

Following the completion of successful on-orbit testing, the U.S. Navy accepted the fourth Lockheed Martin-built Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite on 30 November.

Inmarsat announced that the third satellite in its new Global Xpress fleet, Inmarsat-5 F3 (I-5 F3), which was launched in August 2015, successfully completed all its in-orbit testing (IOT) and that the spacecraft is now fully operational and station-kept in its final orbital position.

Following the completion of in-orbit testing, Russia’s new communications and broadcasting satellite, Ekspress-AM8, has been commissioned as of 1 December 2015, at its nominal orbital slot, 14 degrees West.

Under an greement signed today, NOAA and EUMETSAT will establish and operate a Joint Polar System composed of EUMETSAT’s Metop-Second Generation (Metop-SG) satellites, NOAA’s JPSS satellites and shared ground systems and services.