Satellite News

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B; Payload: Chang’e 4; Date: 7 December 2018, 1823 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The lunar rover is expected to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon sometime in January.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 2D; Payload: SaudiSat 5A, SaudiSat 5B, 10 microsatellites and nanosatellites; Date: 7 December 2018, 0412 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. Officials declared the launch successful, according to China Great Wall Industry Corp.

For two times in a row, technical troubles have forced ULA to scrub a Delta IV Heavy launch attempt at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The rocket is to carry a classified U.S. National Reconnaissance Office satellite.

On 20 November 2018, technicians observed an error from NOAA’s GOES-17 Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) – unrelated to the ongoing issues with the loop heat pipe – that resulted in degraded infrared imagery.

exactEarth Ltd. announced that its advanced AIS payload onboard the Spanish radar satellite, PAZ, has completed its commissioning phase and is now fully-operational.

Ball Aerospace has delivered the Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) spectrometer to NASA after a successful final acceptance review.