Satellite News

Rocket: Soyuz 2.1b; Payload: GLONASS-M52 [Uragan-M No.52S, Kosmos 2522]; Date: 22 September 2017, 0002 UTC; Launch site: Plesetsk, Russia. The launch and orbiting was carried out without any emergency, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. All systems of the spacecraft operate normally.

The ground test stand and aerospike engine for the Demonstrator 3 rocket are ready for tests at ARCA Space Corporation. The effort was completed in 60 days since the start of fabrication. The results of the ground and test flight will be used by ARCA for the Haas 2CA Single Stage to Orbit rocket that is scheduled to be launched in 2018 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.

Arianespace’s ninth launch of 2017 is now scheduled for 29 September between 2147 and 2225 UTC on a dual-payload Ariane 5 mission to geostationary transfer orbit with Intelsat 37e and BSAT-4a.

Iridium Communications announced that all 10 Iridium NEXT satellites for the third launch are onsite at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California. Pre-launch processing activities are underway, which includes mating them to the dispensers, fuelling and encapsulation within the fairing.

On 15 September, CNES and ArianeGroup–the lead contractor for the Ariane family of launch vehicles–signed an agreement to step up their co-operation.

United Launch Alliance said that everything is progressing toward the ULA Atlas V NROL-42 launch.

Arianespace will launch four new satellites for the Galileo constellation, using two Ariane 62 versions of the next-generation Ariane 6 rocket from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana.

Elements for Arianespace’s Ariane 5 mission in December have been delivered to the Spaceport in French Guiana for the heavy-lift launcher’s second flight at the service of Europe’s Galileo global satellite navigation system.