Satellite News

Rocket: H-IIA; Payload: Michibiki No. 4; Date: 9 October 2017, 2201 UTC; Launch site: Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. The satellite, which will become part of Japan’s navigational Quasi-Zenith Satellite System, separated from the launch vehicle approx. 29 minutes after lift-off.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: 10 Iridium NEXT satellites; Date: 9 October 2017, 1237 UTC; Launch site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA. The satellites were delivered into low-Earth orbit approximately one hour after lift-off.

The launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V carrying the NROL-52 mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was scrubbed on 7 October owing to an issue with a telemetry transmitter on the launch vehicle.

The U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 19 ceased transmitting weather data after nearly three and a half years of operational service.