Satellite News

Rocket: Antares; Payload: Cygnus “S.S. J.R. Thompson”; Date: 21 May 2018, 0844 UTC; Launch site: Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, Wallops Island, USA. Following an approximate nine-minute ascent, the Cygnus vessel was successfully deployed into orbit.

Rocket: Chang Zheng-4C; Payload: Queqiao, Longjiang-1, Longjiang-2; Date: 20 May 2018, 2128 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. About 25 minutes after lift-off, the satellite separated from the rocket and entered an Earth-Moon transfer orbit with a perigee of 200 km and an apogee of about 400,000 km. Meanwhile, the solar panels and the communication antennas were unfolded.

Lockheed Martin recently put its fifth Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF-5) satellite through its paces in realistic simulations of its future launch experience. The satellite completed the tests successfully and is now in system-level testing in preparation for delivery to the U.S. Air Force in 2019.