Satellite News

NextGen Acquisition Corp. II announced the closing of its business combination with Vieco USA, Inc., the parent company of Virgin Orbit.

Iran said Thursday it launched a rocket with a satellite carrier bearing three research devices into space, though it’s unclear if any of the objects entered orbit around the Earth.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B/E; Payload: TJSW-9 [Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing 9]; Date: 29 December 2021, 1643 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The communications technology test satellite was deployed into geosynchronous transfer orbit.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 2D; Payload: Tianhui 4; Date: 29 December 2021, 1113 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The cartography satellite was placed into a Sun-synchronous orbit.

China accused the United States of irresponsible and unsafe conduct in space over two close encounters between the Chinese space station and satellites operated by SpaceX. The country’s Tiangong space station had to manoeuvre to avoid colliding with one Starlink satellite in July and with another in October, according to a note submitted by Beijing to the United Nations space agency this month.

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After a successful launch of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope on 25 December, and completion of two mid-course correction manoeuvres, the Webb team has analysed its initial trajectory and determined the observatory should have enough propellant to allow support of science operations in orbit for significantly more than a 10-year lifetime (the minimum baseline for the mission is five years).

Related posts:
Kosmotras to stop Dnepr cluster launches
HYLAS to fly Ariane 5, not Falcon 9
Proton M lifts off with radio satellite onboard
Ariane 5 reaches launch zone

Rocket: Angara A5/Persei; Payload: mass simulator; Date: 27 December 2021, 1900 UTC; Launch site: Plesetsk, Russia. While the rocket flew successfully, the newly developed Persei upper stage reportedly failed to place the dummy satellite into near-geostationary orbit.

Related posts:
Kosmotras to stop Dnepr cluster launches
HYLAS to fly Ariane 5, not Falcon 9
Proton M lifts off with radio satellite onboard
Ariane 5 reaches launch zone

Rocket: Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat; Payload: 36 OneWeb satellites; Date: 27 December 2021, 1310 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The mission lasted three hours and 45 minutes. The 36 satellites were deployed during nine separation sequences, at an altitude of 450 km.