Satellite News

NanoRacks has successfully completed the company’s 13th CubeSat deployment mission from the International Space Station. As these five CubeSats enter low-Earth orbit, this brings NanoRacks to 176 total CubeSats deployed into space via the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD). In total, the company has deployed 193 satellites into space.

The high resolution radar, Earth observation PAZ satellite, intended primarily to address civilian surveillance needs and to cover many different applications including defence and security, will be shipped in December 2017 to its launch site in Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, USA.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 6; Payload: Jilin 1-04, 1-05, 1-06 (Lingqiao 1-04, 1-05, 1-06); Date: 21 November 2017, 0450 UTC; Launch site: Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China.

Eutelsat Communications’ all-electric Eutelsat 172B satellite has gone into full commercial service.

British ‘New Space’ pioneer Earth-i announced that it has ordered the first five satellites from SSTL (Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd) for its new Earth Observation (EO) constellation.

ASTROSCALE PTE. LTD. (ASTROSCALE) and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to pursue joint opportunities in areas of on-orbit technologies and missions designed to safeguard the orbital environment.

SES leads a European consortium of industry partners to sign an agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) to set up Pacis-1, a new satellite communication platform for governments that is aimed at making secure satellite communications accessible and available to governments and institutions.

Rocket: Delta II; Payload: JPSS-1, five CubeSats; Date: 18 November 2017, 0947 UTC; Launch site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA. Approximately 63 minutes after launch the solar arrays on JPSS-1 deployed and the spacecraft was operating on its own power.