Satellite News

Rocket: Ariane 5 ECA; Payload: Eutelsat KONNECT, GSAT-30; Date: 16 January 2020, 2105 UTC; Launch site: Kourou, French Guiana. The two satellites were deployed into geostationary transfer orbit as planned.

Rocket: Kuaizhou-1A (KZ-1A); Payload: Yinhe-1 (GS-SparkSat-03); Date: 16 January 2020, 0302 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. The satellite, the first one of Beijing-based GalaxySpace, was sent into its planned orbit of 621 km x 637 km x 86.40 degrees.

The launch of a Russian rocket powered by methane is expected to cost half as much as the lift-off of a Soyuz-2 carrier, Progress Space Rocket Center CEO Dmitry BaraNovember was quoted as saying.

Lockheed Martin shipped its third satellite based on the modernised LM 2100 bus to French Guiana for launch aboard an Ariane V rocket. JCSAT-17 will provide flexible mobile communications services to users in Japan and the surrounding region. Arianespace will launch JCSAT-17 from its spaceport in Kourou.

The Progress Space Rocket Center plans to launch two Aist-2T Earth’s remote-sensing satellites at the end of 2022, Progress CEO Dmitry BaraNovember was quoted as saying.

The Rosalind Franklin rover of the joint ESA-Roskosmos ExoMars mission completed a series of environmental tests at the end of 2019 at Airbus, Toulouse, France. This included final thermal and vacuum tests where the Rover is heated and cooled to simulate the temperatures of its journey through space and on the surface of Mars.

SpinLaunch, Inc. has received an additional investment of US$35 million for continued development of the world’s first kinetic launch system, designed to provide the lowest-cost, environmentally responsible orbital launch system.