Satellite News

Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) wholly-owned subsidiary Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) recently completed successful testing and demonstration of three different propellant combinations for its existing 134-kN (30,000-lbf) thrust vortex rocket engine.

Rocket: Ariane 5 ECA; Payload: Arabsat-6B (Badr 7), GSAT-15; Date: 10 November 2015, 2134 UTC; Launch site: Kourou, French Guiana. The two satellites were placed into geostationary transfer orbit after a flight lasting approximately 43 minutes.

Intelsat S.A. announced that Intelsat 29e, the first of the Intelsat EpicNG high throughput satellites, is scheduled to launch on 27 January 2016, aboard an Arianespace Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 4B; Payload: Yaogan Weixing-28 (Yaogan 28, YG-28); Date: 8 November 2015, 0706 UTC; Launch site: Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China. The satellite was deployed to a 459 x 482 km sun-synchronous orbit.

The U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center released the first award notice on 4 November under the Booster Propulsion Technology Maturation Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) solicitation supporting technology maturation and risk reduction for rocket propulsion system development.

The Ariane 5 for Arianespace’s sixth heavy-lift mission in 2015 is now complete after the integration of its dual-satellite payload at the Spaceport in French Guiana.

International Launch Services (ILS) announced a multi-launch agreement with Eutelsat Communications. The missions will be launched within a seven year period from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

BAE Systems plc and Reaction Engines Limited (‘Reaction Engines’) announced a strategic investment by BAE Systems and a working collaboration to accelerate Reaction Engines’ development of SABRE – a new aerospace engine class that combines both jet and rocket technologies. The transaction is subject to the approval of Reaction Engines’ shareholders.