Satellite News

A 3-D printed titanium dome for satellite fuel tanks completed final rounds of quality testing this month, ending a multi-year development programme at Lockheed Martin.

GomSpace A/S has signed a EUR400.000 contract with ESA for the first phase of the RACE project to deliver two 6-unit CubeSats for an IOD mission to demonstrate the capability of nano-satellite systems to perform close proximity operations such as rendezvous and docking, and close fly around manoeuvres.

Rocket: Soyuz 2.1a; Payload: Progress MS-09; Date: 9 July 2018, 2151 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Progress cargo spacecraft docked to the International Space Station (ISS) less than four hours after lift-off, completing this fast-track orbital rendezvous attempt for the first time.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3A; Payload: Beidou 2-G8 [?]; Date: 9 July 2018, 2058 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The navigation satellite was placed in a geostationary transfer orbit.

Beijing-based space launch company LandSpace recently revealed that its Suzaku No. 2, the largest privately-owned rocket developed in the country so far, will be launched in 2020.

Iridium Communications Inc. announced an updated launch date for the seventh Iridium NEXT launch.

Aerojet Rocketdyne successfully fired its AR-22 booster rocket engine 10 times in 240 hours at NASA Stennis Space Center, demonstrating the feasibility of rapidly recycling the engine to enable a reusable launch vehicle capable of high-tempo, aircraft-like flight operations.

ICESat-2 engineers at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California successfully finished the final ground-based test of the lasers, which are part of the satellite’s sole instrument called the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System (ATLAS). ICESat-2 is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg on 12 September 2018.