Satellite News

Rocket: Kuaizhou-1A; Payload: Centispace-1-s1; Date: 29 September 2018, 0413 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. About six and a half hours after leaving the pad, the state-run Xinhua press agency confirmed launch success.

Following completion of a competitive procurement, ULA has selected Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine for Vulcan Centaur’s booster stage. The liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuelled booster will be powered by a pair of BE-4 engines, each producing 2.45 MN (550,000 lbf) of sea level thrust.

The U.S. Air Force’s fourth Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF-4) communication satellite was encapsulated on 26 September at Astrotech Space Operations processing facility in Florida.

Ground controllers successfully installed the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Kounotori 7 H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-7) to the International Space Station’s Earth-facing port of the Harmony module on 27 September (UTC).

Lockheed Martin received a contract for the first two GPS IIIF satellites, Space Vehicles 11 and 12, which are follow-ons to the initial 10-satellites of the new GPS III constellation.

Norway’s first hybrid rocket to reach space demonstrated new hybrid propulsion technology for a cleaner, safer, more flexible method of powering small launch vehicles.

Thales Alenia Space in the UK achieved the major milestone of delivering its IMU Flight Models to Airbus Defence and Space in UK for integration with the ExoMars Rover.

CubeRover SARL and Luxembourg announced an agreement for the development of next-generation planetary rovers in Luxembourg.