Satellite News

Arianespace’s year-ending heavy-lift flight of 2016 from the Spaceport will orbit two passengers based on the SSL 1300 relay platform built by Space Systems Loral (SSL), with the second of these spacecraft now delivered to French Guiana.

The ExoMars orbiter is preparing to make its first scientific observations at Mars during two orbits of the planet starting next week.

Rocket: Ariane 5 ES; Payload: Galileo 15 – 18; Date: 17 November 2016, 1306:48 UTC; Launch site: Kourou, French Guyana. The launch vehicle delivered its quartet of passengers into medium-Earth circular orbit at the completion of a mission lasting 3 hours, 55 minutes.

Rocket: Soyuz FG; Payload: Soyuz MS-03; Date: 17 November 2016, 2020 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft is safely heading towards the International Space Station.

Intelsat announced that Gogo has signed an agreement for services on the Intelsat 29e satellite.

This week’s Arianespace flight with four European Galileo navigation system spacecraft has been approved for lift-off on 17 November following the launch readiness review held at the Spaceport in French Guiana.

On 20 December, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will launch the second Epsilon Launch Vehicle (Epsilon-2) with the Exploration of energisation and Radiation in Geospace (ERG) satellite on board.

Sentinel-2B, Europe’s next Copernicus satellite in Space, has successfully finished its test programme at ESA’s technology Centre ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. The second Sentinel-2 Airbus built satellite will now be readied for shipment to the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana begin January 2017.