Satellite News

Rocket: Chang Zheng 4B; Payload: Gaofen-11; Date: 31 July 2018, 0300 UTC;Launch site: Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China.

NASA and the U.S. Air Force have certified Russia’s RD-180 engines for Atlas V carrier rockets to used for manned spaceflight by U.S. astronauts, Igor Arbuzov, director general of Russia’s major rocket engine manufacturer JSC NPO Energomash, was quoted as saying.

Northrop Grumman Corporation announced that its “S.S. J.R. Thompson” Cygnus spacecraft successfully completed its ninth cargo supply mission to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) contract.

Intelsat S.A. announced financial results for the three months ending 30 June 2018.

Iridium Communications Inc. reported financial results for the second quarter of 2018.

Eutelsat Communications has signed a multi-year, multi-transponder contract with Media Group Ukraine for broadcasting services on its Eutelsat 9B satellite.

Iridium Communications Inc. announced that the 10 Iridium NEXT satellites launched on 25 July by SpaceX are functioning nominally and have begun the testing and validation process.

Telesat announced that, following a highly rigorous process involving leading satellite manufacturing companies, it has entered into a contract with the consortium of Thales Alenia Space and Maxar Technologies, the owner of SSL, to further develop system designs for Telesat’s LEO constellation.