Satellite News

NASA Launch Services Program (LSP) investigators have determined the technical root cause for the Taurus XL launch failures of NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) and Glory missions in 2009 and 2011, respectively: faulty materials provided by aluminium manufacturer, Sapa Profiles, Inc. (SPI).

There has been an unusual silence following the “anomaly” that occurred during testing a SpaceX Dragon-2 (aka Crew Dragon) spacecraft. SpaceX and NASA confirmed there was an “anomaly” but so far did not provide any details regarding the incident. A leaked video suggests that a rather large explosion took place, though.

SpaceX suffered an anomaly in one of its Crew Dragon capsules while conducting engine tests at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Saturday. “The initial tests completed successfully but the final test resulted in an anomaly on the test stand,” the company said in a statement.

Intelsat has declared its IS-29e satellite a total loss.

A video released by ExoAnalytics indicates that Intelsat 29e suffered a rather violent anomaly that created several medium-sized pieces of debris. Meanwhile, the satellite (or what’s left of it) is accelerating its eastward drift.

The attempt by Israeli company SpaceIL to soft-land its Beresheet spacecraft on the moon’s surface has ended in failure.

Intelsat-29e is drifting in orbit after two anomalies. The satellite “experienced damage” on 7 April that resulted in a fuel leak.

Intelsat said it lost communication with its Intelsat 29e satellite, made by Boeing Co., that continues to affect wireless operator, aeronautical and maritime customers in the North Atlantic, Latin America and Caribbean regions.