Satellite News

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.

NASA and Bigelow Aerospace today evaluated why the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) attached to the ISS did not fully expand as planned. A new attempt is currently scheduled for Saturday.

UrtheCast Corp. announced that it will receive C$5.0 million in Government of Canada Technology Development Program (“TDP”) funding, as part of a C$54 million contribution programme for the development of new satellite technologies, as administered by the Government of Canada.