Satellite News

Rocket: Chang Zheng 2D; Payload: Zhangheng-1 [China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES-1)] plus six piggyback satellites; Date: 2 February 2018, 0751 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. All satellites were successfully deployed into their target orbit.

Rocket: SS 520 No. 5; Payload: TRICOM 1R; Date: 3 February 2018, 0503 UTC; Launch site: Uchinoura Space Center, Japan. The rocket about the size of a utility pole, measuring 10 meters in length and 50 centimeters in diameter, delivered its payload to its intended orbit, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne have cleared a significant milestone toward the first crewed flight of the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) with the latest successful test firing of an RS-25 engine, which powers the heavy-lift rocket’s first stage.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded the project “Study on Launch Service Making Use of a Microlauncher” to the Spanish company PLD Space. The microlauncher study, a part of the ESA’s Future Launcher Preparatory Programme, will refine the definition of the European small satellite launcher project proposed by PLD Space, named ARION 2.

New data regarding IMAGE provides some additional — though not yet complete — information on how the spacecraft began to transmit signals again.

The Boeing Company reported fourth-quarter financial results.

NSR’s industry-first In-Orbit Servicing Markets (IoSM) report finds the nascent in-orbit servicing market poised for growth, and forecasts a total market of over US$3 billion in the next 10 years. Life extension services drive most of this revenue, as many in-orbit service providers plan to enter the market in the next five years servicing commercial and government customers with additional solutions to fleet management.