Satellite News

Russia, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates are planning to sign an agreement on upgrading launch site No. 1 at the Baikonur spaceport in the first half of this year, Chairman of the Aerospace Committee at Kazakhstan’s Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry Ministry Baubek Oralmagambetov was quoted as saying.

Airbus Defence and Space has entered the consultation process with the company’s European works council on the division’s planned restructuring.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced that it has completed construction of a new facility for the production of satellites at the company’s Kamakura Works in Kamakura, Japan.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: 60 Starlink satellites; Date: 17 February 2020, 1505 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. While the satellites were successfully deployed, the rocket’s first stage failed to land on a platform as planned.

Rocket: Antares 230+; Payload: NG-13/Cygnus; Date: 15 February 2020, 1821 UTC; Launch site: Wallops Flight Facility, USA. The Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the International Space Station at about 0905 UTC on 18 February.

NASA has selected Rocket Lab of Huntington Beach, California, to provide launch services for the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) CubeSat.

Arianespace’s dual-payload mission with satellites to serve Japan and South Korea – JCSAT-17 and GEO-KOMPSAT-2B, respectively – has been approved for next week’s launch from the Spaceport in French Guiana.

Russia’s State Commission has set a preliminary date of 20 February for the launch from Plesetsk of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket with a Meridian military satellite atop, which was previously cancelled, a source in the rocket and space industry was quoted as saying.