Satellite News

Rocket: Soyuz 2.1-a; Payload: Progress MS-12 [Progress 73P]; Date: 31 July 2019, 1210 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Progress MS-12 cargo spacecraft was accurately placed on the target orbit for the ISS resupplying mission. This was the eleventh Soyuz family mission in 2019.

Satellite launches are likely to cost more to insure after the European Vega rocket failure this month, Reuters news agency quoted insurance industry sources as saying.

A failure review board comprised of the satellite’s manufacturer, Boeing Satellite Systems, Inc., Intelsat and external independent experts has completed its analysis of the cause of the Intelsat 29e anomaly in April 2019 that resulted in a total loss of the satellite.

Airbus has been selected by the European Space Agency to build the European component of the SMILE satellite (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer). SMILE will be the first joint satellite mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), following on from the success of the Double Star / Tan Ce mission which flew between 2003 and 2008.

Eutelsat Communications reported financial results for the fiscal year ending 30 June 2019.

Ultra DTH Inc. has signed a multiyear, multi-transponder agreement with Eutelsat Americas, a subsidiary of Eutelsat Communications for capacity on the Eutelsat 65 West A satellite to support the launch of a white label DTH platform across the Caribbean and the Andean region.