Satellite News

Israel’s Space Communication (Spacecom) has signed a deal with SpaceX to launch two communication satellites, after a Falcon 9 rocket with Spacecom’s Amos 6 on board exploded on the launch pad in 2016.

Europe’s Sentinel-5P satellite – the first Copernicus mission dedicated to monitoring the air we breathe – is in excellent health, the European Space Agency said. The 820 kg satellite was lofted into orbit from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia last Friday on a Rokot.

Russia has started using the GLONASS-M No. 52 navigation satellite built by the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems company pursuant to its designation, State Space Corporation Roskosmos said.

D-Orbit has signed a binding agreement with Sky and Space Global (SAS), a satellite company with European and Israeli centres of Aerospace, Satellite and Software Industry Experts, to provide launch and deployment services for the upcoming roll-out of the SAS nanosatellite constellation.

Bigelow Aerospace and United Launch Alliance (ULA) are working together to launch a B330 expandable module on ULA’s Vulcan launch vehicle. The launch would place a B330 outfitted module in Low Lunar Orbit by the end of 2022 to serve as a lunar depot.

Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with Airbus Defence and Space GmbH to develop the feed array system for the antenna on the European Space Agency’s Biomass spacecraft. This equipment is essential to guarantee the full satellite performance.

Rocket: Soyuz-2.1a; Payload: Progress MS-07 [Progress P 68]; Date: 14 October 2017, 0846 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Progress MS-07 cargo spacecraft was accurately placed on the target orbit for the ISS resupplying mission. This was the twelfth Soyuz family mission in 2017.

Rocket: Atlas V; Payload: NROL-52; Date: 15 October 2017, 0728 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. Officials said the classified payload was successfully launched on behalf of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).