Satellite News

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: Dragon; Date: 18 July 2016, 0445 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The cargo vessel was placed in a 204 km x 355 km x 51.7 degrees orbit approx. 10 minutes after lift-off.

Representatives of the technical management and the state commission at the Baikonur cosmodrome today made a decision on the readiness of the space transportation system consisting of the new-series cargo transportation spacecraft Progress MS-03 and launch vehicle (LV) Soyuz-U to be rolled out and erected on the launch pad.

Space Systems Loral (SSL) announced that the JCSAT-16 satellite, which it designed and built for Sky Perfect JSAT Corporation, has arrived at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, where it will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

Reaction Engines Ltd. has signed a EUR10 million European Space Agency (ESA) contract which will enable the development of a ground based demonstrator of SABRE (Synergistic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine), a new class of aerospace engine which is highly scalable with multiple potential applications in hypersonic travel and space access.

Aerojet Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc., announced that assembly and testing of its AR1 advanced liquid rocket engine will take place at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

A light version of Russia’s Proton rocket may be developed in 2018, Khrunichev Space Center Head Andrei Kalinovsky was quoted as saying.

Rocket: Soyuz-FG; Payload: Soyuz MS-01; Date: 7 July 2016, 0336 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The first crewed transportation spacecraft of the new Soyuz MS series was successfully put into a low Earth orbit and is headed for the International Space Station (ISS).

Two astronauts and one cosmonaut are scheduled to launch on 7 July at 0136 UTC for a two-day ride to the International Space Station. During their transit from the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the station, the Expedition 48-49 crew will test a variety of upgraded systems on their Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft.