Satellite News

United Launch Services has been awarded a $99 million firm-fixed-price contract for Atlas V Completion launch services.

Operation of the basic version of the Rokot carrier rocket may be discontinued on 29 November after it is launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome with three Gonets satellite systems, first deputy head of the JSC Gonets Satellite System Oleg Khimochko said.

The Quantum satellite – Europe’s reprogrammable telecommunications satellite – built through an ESA Partnership Project with its operator Eutelsat successfully completed thermal vacuum testing on 28 September.

Space debris endangers active satellites and space stations. The aim of international and national efforts is therefore to prevent collisions and damage to satellites more effectively in the future. This can be achieved by constantly monitoring as many potentially dangerous objects as possible on different Earth orbits. To this end, SCISYS already started in mid-2018 to set up and operate a central database for DLR space management as part of the European project “EU Space Surveillance and Tracking” (EUSST).

CubeRover, an ultralight, rechargeable planetary rover developed by Astrobotic, has been awarded a US$2 million NASA Tipping Point contract. The rover, roughly the size of a shoebox and with a mass of approx. 2 kg, can carry its own payloads or team up with other CubeRovers as “scouts” for larger rovers and landers.