Satellite News

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: 60 Starlink satellites; Date: 7 January 2020, 0219 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The satellites were deployed at an altitude of 290 kilometers and will later engage their ion thrusters to reach an operational orbit of 550 kilometers.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B/G2; Payload: Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing 5 (TJSW-5); Date: 7 January 2020, 1520 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The satellite was deployed into geostationary transfer orbit.

Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the signature of a launch services contract for the Euclid satellite – with the mission’s timeframe for lift-off starting in mid-2022 from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana (South America).