Satellite News

After the injection of GSAT-30 communication satellite into an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) on 17 January 2020, all the three orbit raising manoeuvres have been completed successfully as planned using the satellite’s propulsion system.

HawkEye 360 Inc., the first commercial company to use formation flying satellites to create a new class of radio frequency (RF) data and analytics, announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with Airbus.

On 24 October 2019, Eutelsat announced an investigation into a malfunction on one of the two solar arrays on its Eutelsat 5 West B satellite. Pursuant to this investigation, the loss of the satellite’s South solar array has been confirmed. With the exception of the South solar array, the satellite performance remains nominal.

NASA and SpaceX completed a launch escape demonstration of the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket Sunday. This was the final major flight test of the spacecraft before it begins carrying astronauts to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Iran said that two newly constructed satellites have passed pre-launch tests and will be transported to the nation’s space centre for eventual launch, without elaborating.

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.