Satellite News

The two satellite passengers for Arianespace’s next Ariane 5 mission – scheduled for lift-off in February – are advancing through their pre-flight preparations during parallel activity in French Guiana.

SpaceX has postponed the launch of its next batch of Starlink satellites due to bad weather. The next attempt will be on 28 January.

Lift-off of an H-2A rocket with the IGS Optical 7 reconnaissance satellite aboard from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan, was scrubbed on 26 and 27 February, most recently because of a ground facility problem. A new launch date was not immediately announced.

China plans to launch more space science satellites in the coming three to four years, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The Bartolomeo research platform, developed by Airbus for the International Space Station (ISS), has been delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. With its planned launch in March, the European-built Bartolomeo is set to become the first commercial research platform to be attached to the ISS.

QinetiQ’s space business (formerly Verhaert Space) has confirmed it has secured a major new contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to extend Europe’s capabilities in operational Earth Observation. The new EUR75 million contract will see the company develop and assemble the ALTIUS satellite at its new cleanroom facilities in Kruibeke, Belgium.

The two-year test campaign for the propulsion system of the European Service Module has ended with a test of the auxiliary engines.