Satellite News

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3C/G2; Payload: Tianlian 1-4; Date: 22 November 2016, 1524 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The 2,100-kg tracking and relay satellite was placed in a geostationary transfer orbit.

NASA has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the agency’s Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission. Launch is targeted for April 2021 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Rocket: Atlas V 541; Payload: GOES-R (GOES-16); Date: 19 November 2016, 2342 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The Atlas V launched the GOES-R weather satellite to geosynchronous transfer orbit.

Arianespace’s year-ending heavy-lift flight of 2016 from the Spaceport will orbit two passengers based on the SSL 1300 relay platform built by Space Systems Loral (SSL), with the second of these spacecraft now delivered to French Guiana.

Rocket: Ariane 5 ES; Payload: Galileo 15 – 18; Date: 17 November 2016, 1306:48 UTC; Launch site: Kourou, French Guyana. The launch vehicle delivered its quartet of passengers into medium-Earth circular orbit at the completion of a mission lasting 3 hours, 55 minutes.

Rocket: Soyuz FG; Payload: Soyuz MS-03; Date: 17 November 2016, 2020 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Soyuz MS-03 spacecraft is safely heading towards the International Space Station.

This week’s Arianespace flight with four European Galileo navigation system spacecraft has been approved for lift-off on 17 November following the launch readiness review held at the Spaceport in French Guiana.

On 20 December, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency will launch the second Epsilon Launch Vehicle (Epsilon-2) with the Exploration of energisation and Radiation in Geospace (ERG) satellite on board.