Satellite News

Following the launch of the Eutelsat 172B satellite, Eutelsat Communications announced a new launch services contract with Arianespace.

Inmarsat has awarded a contract for the construction of an additional Global Xpress (GX) broadband communications satellite to Thales Alenia Space.

Hispasat has completed the re-orbiting operations of the Hispasat 1C satellite (subsequently called 30W-3 and 84W-1, the two orbital positions where it was located).

Engineers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and Orbital ATK in Dulles, Virginia, are preparing to ignite the third remote Spacecraft Fire Experiment, or SAFFIRE III, inside an Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo spacecraft leaving the International Space Station on 4 June.

Rocket: H-IIA No. 34; Payload: Michibiki 2; Date: 1 June 2017, 0017 UTC; Launch site: Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. The launch and flight proceeded as planned and the separation of the satellite was confirmed 28 minutes 21 seconds after lift-off.

Rocket: Ariane 5 ECA; Payload: ViaSat-2, Eutelsat 172B; Date: 1 June 2017, 2345 UTC; Launch site: Kourou, French Guiana. The successful mission set a record for the total mass carried into geostationary transfer orbit.

Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp is expected to let the US$14 billion merger between OneWeb and Intelsat SA fall through after failing to get enough of Intelsat creditors to back it.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced that it has completed construction of a facility that will double the satellite component production capacity of its Kamakura Works’ Sagami Factory in Sagamihara, Japan.