Satellite News

The Roskosmos Commission set up to investigate the launch failure of a Soyuz-2.1b rocket with Fregat upper stage and carrying Meteor-M and piggyback satellites, which was executed from the Vostochny Spaceport on 28 November 2017, has completed its work.

Rocket: Ariane 5 ES; Payload: Galileo 19-22; Date: 12 December 2017, 1836 UTC; Launch site: Korou, French Guiana. The rocket successfully deployed its four passengers during a mission lasting 3 hours, 55 minutes.

The twin GRACE-FO satellites have now set off on their journey to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Together with test equipment totalling around 45 tonnes, the gravity research satellites built and developed by Airbus in Friedrichshafen (Germany) were loaded overnight onto an air freighter at Munich airport and flown to the USA.

AZUR SPACE Solar Power GmbH, a provider of high-efficiency solar cells, assemblies and panels for both space and terrestrial power applications, announced that it was chosen from a competitive procurement to provide solar panels for Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) first Dream Chaser spacecraft.

The ULA Delta IV rocket carrying the NROL-47 payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office is delayed in order to perform additional validation of the software and systems associated with Common Avionics.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) signed the Implementation Arrangement (IA) concerning joint study of Lunar Polar Exploration.

L3 Technologies has entered into an agreement with United Launch Alliance (ULA) to become the exclusive provider of avionics and related services for its new Vulcan Centaur rocket system, delivering an estimated US$1 billion-plus in mission-critical systems and services, over a 10-year period.

Spaceflight announced it will be launching 11 spacecraft in early January 2018 from India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).