Satellite News

Paragon Space Development Corporation and partner Thin Red Line Aerospace (TRLA) received a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from NASA to advance their Cryogenic Encapsulating Launch Shroud and Insulated Upper Stage (CELSIUS) technology.

Rocket: Soyuz-FG; Payload: Soyuz TMA-20M [ISS 46S]; Date: 18 March 2016, 2126 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The crewed vessel reached orbit nine minutes after lift-off as planned.

The next spacecraft to be orbited for Europe’s Copernicus Earth observation programme – Sentinel-1B – is now undergoing pre-launch checkout at the Spaceport, readying it for the 22 April lift-off on Arianespace’s upcoming Soyuz flight from French Guiana.

A pair of spaceships is getting ready for launch to the International Space Station in less than a week. A Soyuz rocket will launch three new Expedition 47 crew members from Kazakhstan on 18 March. On 23 March (UTC), Orbital ATK will launch its Cygnus cargo ship from Florida and deliver new science, spacewalk gear and crew supplies to the station crew.

The launch of India’s IRNSS 1G navigation satellite has been rescheduled for 28 April.

China plans to set up a commercial rocket-launch company in view of the market’s potential, Xinhua news agency reported.

The launch of a Dragon cargo vessel aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 to the International Space Station has been postponed until April, Administrator of U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Charles Bolden said.

Rocket: Proton M/Briz M; Payload: ExoMars 2016 [Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), Schiaparelli]; Date: 14 February 2016, 0931 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The launch and subsequent flight performed nominally.