Satellite News

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: Zuma; Date: 8 January 2018, 0100 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The payload’s owner and the spacecraft’s purpose are unknown.

India plans launch 31 satellites, including the Earth observation spacecraft Cartosat, on 10 January from its spaceport at Sriharikota. The PSLV will fly in the PSLV XL configuration with enlarged solid rocket boosters.

China’s Kuaizhou-11 solid-fuelled rocket is scheduled to launch for the first time in the first half of 2018, according to the rocket’s developer and producer China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC).

Specialists have restored communication with Angola’s Angosat 1 satellite, which was launched from the Baikonur spaceport on 26 December.

Rocket: Zenit-3SLBF/Fregat [Zenit-3F, Zenit-2SB/Fregat-SB], Payload: Angosat 1; Date: 26 December 2017, 1900 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The launch appears to have been successful, but contact with the satellite was lost shortly thereafter.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 2C; Payload: three Yaogan 30 satellites; Date: 25 December 2017, 1944 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, China. The satellites have entered its preset orbit and the launch was proclaimed a success.

JAXA has postponed the launch experiment of a microsatellite aboard SS-520 No. 5, due to a malfunction found in a launch vehicle component.

Rocket: H-IIA; Payload: Global Changing Observation Mission – Climate “SHIKISAI” (GCOM-C) and the Super Low Altitude Test Satellite “TSUBAME” (SLATS); Date: 23 December 2017, 0126 UTC; Launch site: Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. The launch and flight of H-IIA F37 proceeded as planned.