Satellite News

This week’s Ariane 5 flight that will send BepiColombo on its way to the planet Mercury has been approved for lift-off on 20 October (UTC) following the launch readiness review held at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

US orbital launch provider Rocket Lab has confirmed it will build its first U.S. launch pad for the Electron rocket at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, USA.

ESA has awarded a new framework contract and two new work orders to Thales Alenia Space in France, to upgrade the Galileo Mission Segment (GMS) – that element of the world-wide Galileo ground segment dedicated to delivering navigation services – and the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre (GSMC) near Paris, as well as to implement a second GSMC in Spain, near Madrid.