Satellite News

ESA’s ruling Council, meeting in Paris on 16-17 March, acknowledged the present impossibility of carrying out the ongoing co-operation with Roskosmos on the ExoMars rover mission with a launch in 2022, and mandated the ESA Director General to take appropriate steps to suspend the co-operation activities accordingly.

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. announced a breakthrough in electronically steerable antenna (ESA) technology for in-flight connectivity (IFC) with the conclusion of flight tests conducted by Airbus Defence and Space, marking the successful completion of the final phase of the five-year Clean Sky 2 IFC ESA project. Connectivity was demonstrated on Spacecom’s Amos-17 advanced digital Ka band satellite.

The structural thermal model (STM) of the payload module (PLM) of the SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) mission has successfully passed its Delivery Review Board (DRB). The SMILE STM payload is now on its way to Luxembourg from where it will start its journey to Shanghai. On arrival it will be integrated onto the Chinese platform, to complete the qualification of the satellite.

Boeing and MT Aerospace AG, a subsidiary of OHB SE, have signed a further contract to supply structural components for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS). Boeing is the industrial prime contractor for the development and construction of this heavy-lift launch vehicle, whose first flight is scheduled for spring 2022.

A Chinese high-thrust oxyhydrogen rocket engine has completed a 520-second test in preparation for the upcoming launches of space station lab modules, its maker said on Wednesday.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 4C; Payload: Yaogan-34 02; Date: 17 March 2022, 0809 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. The classified satellite was deployed into a 1,092 km × 1,096 km × 63.40 degrees orbit.