Satellite News

Rocket: PSLV-C41; Payload: IRNSS-1I; Date: 11 April 2018, 2234 UTC; Launch site: SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota, India. The spacecraft was deployed to a 281 km x 20,730 km transfer orbit. It will later propel itself into a geosynchronous orbit with an inclination of 29 degrees.

Everything is progressing toward the ULA Atlas V launch carrying the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC)-11 mission.

The SES-12 all-electric communications satellite, built by Airbus for SES, has been shipped from the Airbus Defence and Space facilities in Toulouse, France, to Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The Continuous Broadcast Augmenting SATCOM, or CBAS, Satellite completed launch base testing last Month in preparation for the payload’s scheduled launch aboard the AFSPC-11 mission.

Aerojet Rocketdyne’s NEXT-C ion propulsion engine has successfully cleared NASA’s critical design review (CDR), confirming the technology achieved all programme requirements and is ready for final production of the flight units.

Rocket: Chang Zheng-4C; Payload: three Yaogan-31 remote sensing satellites and a micro nano technology experiment satellite; Date: 10 April 2018, 0425 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) said it was considering launching and operating a communications satellite after it was passed over to build the Amos-8 satellite for Space Communications.

The ExoMars orbiter will soon begin its search for gases that may be linked to active geological or biological activity on the Red Planet.