Satellite News

Rocket: Chang Zheng 11; Payload: Hongyun-1; Date: 21 December 2018, 2351 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, China. The satellite was deployed into a Sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of around 500 kilometres.

The launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the first GPS III satellite for the U.S. Air Force on 22 December has been delayed for 24 hours.

GomSpace has signed a EUR300,000 development contract with ESA for the initiation of a new GOMX-5 satellite mission to demonstrate new nanosatellite capabilities for the next generation of constellations requiring high speed communications links and high levels of manoeuvrability.

Having completed all necessary qualification testing, ESA has received the green light to upgrade the global infrastructure running Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system. The resulting migration, set to start in February 2019, will incorporate new elements into the world-spanning system and boost the robustness of Galileo services delivered from the 26 satellites in orbit.

The launch of a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy carrying the NROL-71 mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office was scrubbed on 20 December (UTC) due to indications of elevated hydrogen concentrations within the port booster engine section.

Thunderstorms forced SpaceX to postpone the launch of a GPS III navigation satellite for the U.S. military, which was poised to be the company’s first national security space mission for the United States.

Canadian space launch services company SpaceHorizon announced that its engineers have completed a pre-phase A design of its LV1 medium sized launch vehicle, slated to begin service for commercial flight starting in 2024.

19 December 2018 marked the 40th anniversary of the day when the first Gorizont telecommunications satellite, designed and built by ISS-Reshetnev Company, was launched into orbit.