Satellite News

Rocket: Soyuz ST-B/Fregat MT; Payload: two Galileo satellites (FM 23, FM 24); Date: 5 December 2021, 0019 UTC; Launch site: Sinnamary, French Guiana. Separation of the two satellites from the launcher occurred 4 hours later, at approximately 22,500 km of altitude.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: 48 Starlink satellites, two BlackSky satellites; Date: 2 December 2021, 2312 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, USA.

The launch of the Atlas V 551 carrying the Space Test Program (STP)-3 mission for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) has been delayed to 6 December at 0904 UTC owing to a leak in the Rocket Propellant (RP)-1 ground storage system.

NASA has awarded the Booster Production and Operations Contract (BPOC) to Northrop Grumman to build boosters for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to support nine SLS flights.

Europe’s next pair of Galileo satellites have been given a green light for launch. The Launch Readiness Review confirmed that the satellites, the supporting ground installations, and the early operations facilities and teams are ready for lift-off.

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Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B; Payload: Zhongxing 1D (ChinaSat 1D); Date: 26 November 2021, 1640 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The satellite was deployed into a 182 km x 35,830 km x 27.08 degrees geostationary transfer orbit.

Engineering teams have completed additional testing confirming NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is ready for flight, and launch preparations are resuming toward Webb’s target launch date of Wednesday, 22 December.

Italy and France pledged to strengthen their co-operation on space launchers as part of a broader bilateral treaty. Among the goals laid out in the treaty were pledges to reinforce military connections, including at an industrial level, and work together in the space sector.