Satellite News

The first elements of the BepiColombo spacecraft, which will be heading to Mercury from autumn 2018, have arrived per plane at the European Spaceport Kourou in French Guiana. This flight was the first of four needed to transport the spacecraft and all handling and test equipment to Kourou. The flights are supported by three transports by ship for further items.

Rocket: Proton M/Briz M; Payload: Blagovest 12L [military designation likely Kosmos 2526]; Date: 18 April 2018, 2212 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The dual-use satellite was delivered into geostationary transfer orbit approx. 9 hours after lift-off.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite); Date: 18 April 2018, 2251 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. Falcon 9 delivered TESS to a highly elliptical orbit and the spacecraft was deployed approximately 49 minutes after lift-off.

Arianespace announced that it will launch BSAT-4b, under the term of a turnkey contract between B-SAT and Maxar’s SSL.

“A national level committee to review Chandrayaan-2 recommended some additional tests before the mission could take off, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) sources said.” (NDTV)

“Getting to space is already tough, but getting there on short notice and then doing it again a couple weeks later? That’s a big ask. Nevertheless, DARPA i is asking it as part of its Launch Challenge … Teams must take a payload to space with only days to prepare, then do it again soon after — if they want to win the $10M grand prize.” (TechCrunch)

Orbital ATK has provided a detailed update on the progress being made on its Next Generation Launch System. The company reaffirmed its commitment to the U.S. Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) programme for national security space missions with the announcement of the name of the rocket, OmegA, and the selection of its upper stage propulsion system.

Arianespace announced that it has been selected by rideshare and mission management provider Spaceflight to launch small satellites on the Vega launch vehicle, as part of the Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) Proof Of Concept (POC) flight.