Satellite News

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) free-flying satellite, built on a spacecraft platform designed and developed by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), is on-orbit and successfully performing experiments.

Rocket: Falcon Heavy; Payload: STP-2; Date: 25 June 2019, 0630 UTC; Launch site: Kennedy Space Center.

Rocket: Chang Zheng-3B/G2; Payload: Beidou-3I2 (IGSO-2) [aka Beidou-46]; Date: 24 June 2019, 1805 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. After in-orbit tests, the new satellite will work with those BDS satellites already in orbit to improve the coverage and positioning accuracy of the system.

The UK Space Agency is joining forces with mobile communications giant O2 to develop next generation technology needed for driverless cars.

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the AEHF-5 mission for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center is delayed, due to a vehicle battery failure discovered during final processing.

Thales Alenia Space and Gazprom Space Systems announced that the Launch Early Operation Phase (LEOP) has been successfully completed and that the Yamal-601 communications satellite is now in the nominal geostationary orbit (GEO) at the right position.

NASA has selected two new missions to advance our understanding of the Sun and its dynamic effects on space. One of the selected missions will study how the Sun drives particles and energy into the solar system and a second will study Earth’s response.

The second satellite to join the constellation that forms the European Data Relay System (EDRS) has arrived at its launch site in Kourou, French Guiana.