Satellite News

Saudi Arabia’s Taqnia Space (TSC) has signed a multi-year contract with Eutelsat including incremental multi-transponder wide-beam capacity on the Eutelsat 70B satellite as well as the fifth HTS spotbeam on Eutelsat 3B, on which it already operates the four others.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B/Y1; Payload: Beidou-3M5, Beidou-3M6 [Beidou-33, Beidou-34]; Date: 29 July 2018, 0140 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The twin navigation satellites entered Medium Earth Orbit more than three hours after the launch.

Europe’s first mission to Mercury will target the early morning of 19 October for launch, Arianespace and ESA announced. Lift-off is anticipated for around 0145 UTC.

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has started its search for planets around nearby stars, officially beginning science operations on 25 July 2018.

SES S.A. announced financial results for the six months ending 30 June 2018.

NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland has awarded a startup license to FABAEARTH, a California-based startup, for radio frequency and advanced communications technologies.

Rocket: Ariane 5 ES; Payload: four Galileo satellites; Date: 27 July 2018, 1125 UTC; Launch site: Kourou, French Guiana. The Ariane 5 deployed its four passengers during a mission lasting approximately 3 hours, 56 minutes.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: Iridium NEXT 7 (10 satellites); Date: 25 July 2018, 1139 UTC; Launch site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA. This was the seventh set of satellites in a series of 75 total satellites that SpaceX will launch for Iridium’s next generation global satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT. The satellites began deployment about an hour after launch.