Satellite News

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has shipped the RemoveDEBRIS spacecraft to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch to the International Space Station (ISS) inside a Dragon capsule on board the SpaceX CRS-14 re-supply mission, a service provided through supply agent, Nanoracks.

Rocket: Soyuz FG; Payload: Soyuz MS-07; Date: 17 December 2017, 0721 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The crewed spacecraft will use a two-day flight for approaching the ISS. The spacecraft docking to the station is planned on 19 December 2017.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: Dragon CRS-13; Date: 15 December 2017, 1536 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. SpaceX confirmed that the launch sent the Dragon into a “good orbit”.

Rocket Lab has delayed its second test flight of the Electron rocket until early 2018.

Harris Corporation delivered the navigation payload for the fourth GPS III Space Vehicle (SV04) to Lockheed Martin on 29 October. Harris delivered two payloads in 2017 and is committed to delivering four more in 2018.

Boeing has been awarded a modified contract from the U.S. Air Force for sustainment of the space-based space surveillance Block 10 satellite.

ArianeGroup said it becomes a key player in space surveillance for French Joint Space Command.

The DLR German Aerospace Center, OHB SE and Arianespace have announced the signing of a launch contract for Germany’s Heinrich Hertz (H2Sat) technology demonstrator satellite built by OHB System AG.