Satellite News

Arianespace said that it has six satellite launches planned for Asia-Pacific customers in 2016. The Asia-Pacific region is a core market for Arianespace, contributing significantly to a 60% global market share for commercial launches. This represents around 25 % of Arianespace’s global business. Also, the company may start marketing its new launchers before the end of the year.

Lockheed Martin, Arab Satellite Communications Organization and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) have successfully completed a comprehensive technical review of Arabsat 6A and Hellas-Sat-4/SaudiGeoSat-1, two satellites that will provide television, Internet, telephone and secure communications, to customers in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Airbus Defence and Space has been awarded a contract worth EUR113.8 million by the procurement agency of German Armed Forces (BAAINBw) to provide commercial satellite communication services until 2023. Airbus Defence and Space has been providing these satcom services since 2006.

Telesat announced new service contracts with SpeedCast International Limited.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: Thaicom 8; Date: 27 May 2016, 2139 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The upper stage engine fired two times to deploy the satellite into a 250 km x 90,000 km supersynchronous transfer orbit approx. 32 minutes after lift-off.

The NROL-37 Delta IV launch is delayed at the request of the customer, the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The NROL-37 spacecraft and launch vehicle are secure on Space Launch Complex 37.

China will send its lunar probe Chang’e 5 to land on the moon and return with lunar samples in the second half of 2017, according to State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND).

On the first flight of its new Space Launch System (SLS), NASA will demonstrate the rocket’s heavy-lift capability and send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft into deep space. The agency will also take advantage of additional available mass and space to provide the rare opportunity to send more than a dozen small satellites, called CubeSats, to conduct experiments beyond low-Earth orbit. In addition to the 10 CubeSats announced earlier this year, the agency will be sending three from international partners.