Satellite News

Rocket Lab delivered its first Electron vehicle to Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 marking the beginning of pre-flight checkouts.

Kepler Communications has contracted Innovative Space Logistics to manifest their first launch on-board an Indian polar satellite launch vehicle (PSLV), scheduled to launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in November 2017.

The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) project has begun final testing on a new satellite that will replenish NASA’s Space Network. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 3 August 2017, on an Atlas V rocket.

Rocket: PSLV-C37; Payload: Cartosat 2D, INS 1A, INS 1B, Flock-3p 1 to 88, Lemur-2 22 to 29, BGUSat, DIDO 2, PEASSS, Al-Farabi 1, Nayif 1; Date: 15 February 2017, 0358 UTC; Launch site: Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota, India. All 104 satellites were successfully deployed.

Iridium Communications Inc. announced it has received a targeted launch date of mid-June for the second mission of ten Iridium NEXT satellites. Originally anticipated for mid-April of 2017, the date has shifted due to a backlog in SpaceX’s launch manifest as a result of last year’s anomaly on 1 September.

Hughes Network Systems announced the successful completion of in-orbit testing and handover of EchoStar XIX from Space Systems Loral (SSL), manufacturers of this Ka-band high-throughput satellite.

NASA has awarded a contract to Ball Aerospace for continued spacecraft operations support for the NOAA/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite. The sole source contract has a maximum ordering period of five years beginning 7 March 2017.

Rocket: Ariane 5 ECA; Payload: Sky Brasil-1, Telkom 3S; Date: 14 February 2017, 2139 UTC; Launch site: Kourou, French Guiana. For its first launch of the year, Ariane 5 successfully completed its mission from the European space port of Kourou (French Guiana) for the 77th consecutive time.