Satellite News

Rocket: H-IIB; Payload: H-II Transfer Vehicle “KOUNOTORI7” (HTV7); Date: 22 September 2018, 1752 UTC; Launch site: Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. A little more than 15 minutes after launch, the unpiloted HTV-7 cargo spacecraft successfully separated from the rocket and began its four-and-a-half day approach to the International Space Station.

Arianespace’s upcoming mission from the Spaceport in French Guiana – which will mark the heavy-lift Ariane 5’s 100th launch – has been cleared for lift-off next week with a dual-satellite payload.

Northrop Grumman Corporation recently conducted its first ground test of a 160-cm diameter Graphite Epoxy Motor (GEM 63) in Promontory, Utah. Utilising advanced technologies, the company developed this new rocket motor for use on the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V launch vehicle.

A pair of robot rovers have landed on an asteroid and begun a survey, Japan’s space agency JAXA said, as it conducts a mission aiming to shed light on the origins of the solar system. The rover mission marks the world’s first moving, robotic observation of an asteroid surface.

Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited has received its second patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), titled, “Methods and Systems for Improving Spectrum Utilisation for Satellite Communications” (US Patent No. 10,050,698 B2).