Satellite News

The U.S. Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron (SPCS) has catalogued a new, somewhat mysterious object alongside China’s recently launched Shijian-21 satellite.

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A satellite image showing the aftermath of a rocket explosion at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in northern Iran was posted by U.S. President Donald Trump on Twitter. This led to some noise in the mainstream media but also to some interesting analyses.

The first two-line elements (TLEs) are in for debris originating from India’s anti-satellite (ASAT) test on 27 March.

The super-secret U.S. satellite known as Zuma may have been lost after its recent launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, some reports said. The launch provider said its rocket functioned as expected, though. The only fact known so far is that there has been no official confirmation of either success or failure by any party involved in this mission.

The Russian company S7 Sea Launch has signed a contract with the Ukrainian company Pivdenmash for the purchase of 12 Zenit rockets, Dnepropetrovsk-based Pivdenmash said. But there are doubts about the availability of Russian engines for those rockets.

It’s not a secret that France and Germany disagreed on the development of future Ariane rockets. Should the Ariane 5 be upgraded (ME), or should a new Ariane 6 be designed? A compromise was reached in 2012 to examine both options, at least for the time being. However, a recent report by France’s national auditor warns that parallel development of both rockets won’t be feasible.