Satellite News

The sixth Arianespace launch of 2017 is approved for lift-off on 1/2 June (UTC) from the Spaceport in French Guiana, with its dual-satellite payload of ViaSat-2 and Eutelsat 172B.

The Proton-M integrated launch vehicle carrying EchoStar 21 is scheduled to lift off at 0345 UTC (not Moscow Time) on 8 June 2016. The article in the archive has been corrected accordingly.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and JAXA announced the launch schedule of H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 34 (H-IIA F34) which encapsulates Michibiki No. 2.

Processing of Proton-M ILV and EchoStar-21 spacecraft for launch is currently underway at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The spacecraft was manufactured by SSL for EchoStar Corporation.

Iridium Communications said that the second launch for the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation has been moved earlier, and is now targeted for 25 June 2017 at 2024:59 UTC with an instantaneous launch window.

exactEarth Ltd announced the launch of exactView RT powered by Harris (“exactView RT”) – according to the company the world’s first global, persistent real-time Satellite AIS service.

According to Euroconsult’s newly released research report, Government Space Programs: Benchmarks, Profiles & Forecasts to 2026, global space budgets totalled US$62.2 billion in 2016, down 2% from the previous year. Governments launched 75 satellites, less than the historical peak of 2015 but in line with the last five year average.

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) successfully passed the third integration milestone for the Dream Chaser programme under the NASA Commercial Resupply Services (CRS2) programme, bringing it a major step closer to providing resupply services to the International Space Station (ISS).