Satellite News

The first full-scale model of the rocket motor that will propel Ariane 6 and Vega-C into orbit has been cast and filled with inert propellant for testing at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

Rocket: Rokot/Briz KM; Payload: Sentinel-5P; Date: 13 October 2017, 0927 UTC; Launch site: Plesetsk, Russia. The satellite was successfully injected at approximately 852 km altitude and 98.75 degrees inclination.

Eutelsat Communications has acquired NOORSAT, a satellite service provider in the Middle East, from Bahrain’s Orbit Holding Group.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: EchoStar 105/SES 11; Date: 11 October 2017, 2253 UTC; Launch site: Kennedy Space Center, USA. For the successful launch, a previously flown SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was used.

The launch of the Russian Progress MS-07 [Progress 68] cargo craft to the ISS has been scrubbed due to “reasons yet to be analysed,” a NASA spokesperson said. The next launch attempt will be no earlier than 14 October at 0846 UTC.

Aerojet Rocketdyne announced that the four RS-25 engines slated to fly on Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), the maiden flight of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), are ready for integration with the rocket’s core stage.

The launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V carrying the NROL-52 mission is now scheduled for no earlier than Saturday, 14 October.

Orbital ATK is requesting a later launch date from the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, to accommodate further verification and routine testing of the company’s Minotaur C rocket.