Satellite News

The U.S. Air Force’s first Lockheed Martin -built GPS III satellite is now encapsulated for its planned 18 December (UTC) launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The launch of the Russian-German Spektr-RG astrophysics observatory aboard a Proton-M with Blok DM-03 upper stage is planned for the first 10 days of April 2019.

GSAT-11 has been placed in its designated geostationary orbit after four orbit-raising manoeuvres, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

MDA announced that the laser altimeter instrument it built for the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) contribution to NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission has scanned and collected its first data set of asteroid Bennu.

NASA’s Voyager 2 probe now has exited the heliosphere – the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun.

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.