Satellite News

Rocket: Proton-M/Block DM-03; Payload: Elektro-L No.3; Date: 24 December 2019, 1203 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The satellite was deployed into a 35,405 km near-geostationary orbit six and a half hours after launch.

Roskosmos intends to launch a new Angara carrier rocket in 2020, the Roskosmos press office was quoted as saying. The launch was previously scheduled for December 2019.

One of Russia’s Meteor-M satellites became uncontrollable following an external impact, presumably a micrometeorite strike, Russia’s Roskosmos state space corporation said on its website. At present, the satellite has resumed controlled flight.

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that its Super Low Altitude Test Satellite “TSUBAME” (SLATS) was registered by the Guinness World Records as having achieved the “lowest altitude by an Earth observation satellite in orbit.”