Satellite News

The Board of Directors of Eutelsat Communications announced the appointment of Eva Berneke as Chief Executive Officer, with effect from 1 January 2022. She will also be co-opted as a member of Board.

Intelsat S.A. announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, has approved its Plan of Reorganisation, marking the final Court milestone in the company’s financial restructuring process. Intelsat is poised to emerge from the process in early 2022 upon receipt of regulatory approvals, completion of certain corporate actions, and satisfaction of other customary conditions.

The EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) hyperspectral satellite has now reached its next milestone, having successfully completed environmental testing at the IABG test centre in Ottobrunn, Bavaria.

Russia’s next-generation GLONASS-K2 navigation satellite is likely to be launched in the second quarter of 2022, according to a source in the country’s rocket and space industry.

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft are undergoing integrated testing inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to ensure they are “go” for launch of the Artemis I mission early next year.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is confirmed for the target launch date of 24 December at 1220 UTC.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: Türksat 5B; Date: 19 December 2021, 0358 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, USA. The satellite was deployed into a geostationary transfer orbit.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: 52 Starlink satellites; Date: 18 December 2021, 0942 UTC; Launch site: Vandenberg Space Force Station, USA. The satellites were deployed into a 53.22 degrees inclination orbit.