Satellite News

Rocket: Soyuz-2.1a; Payload: Kosmos 2553; Date: 5 January 2022, 0700 UTC; Launch site: Plesetsk, Russia. According to the Russian Defence Ministry, all pre-launch operations and the launch itself went normally.

Orbex has submitted its application to the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for a launch licence, the latest stage on its roadmap to beginning commercial space launches from the UK.

Rocket maker Skyroot Aerospace Private Ltd’s Vikram-1 rocket is slated to lift off from a mobile launch pad or transporter, erector and launcher (TEL), a company official said. The Hyderabad-based company is planning to test launch its rocket with a couple of satellites by the end of this year, he added.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: NROL-87; Date: 2 February 2022, 2027 UTC; Launch site: Vandenberg Space Force Base, USA. The customer, the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office [NRO], declared success on the mission.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: 49 Starlink satellites (Starlink 4-7); Date: 3 February 2022, 1813 UTC; Launch site: Kennedy Space Center, USA.

Arianespace is back to the Guiana Space Center (CSG) with Soyuz for a 10 February lift-off. The first Arianespace mission of the year will orbit 34 additional OneWeb satellites.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2; Date: 31 January 2022, 1111 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, USA. Fifteen minutes after the separation from its launcher, the satellite was acquired and controlled by Telespazio’s Space Centre based in Fucino.

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NASA conducted its first RS-25 engine hot fire test of the new year on 19 January on the Fred Haise Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

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