Satellite News

Firefly Space Systems, a Texas-based developer of dedicated launch vehicles for the small satellite market, announced that it has successfully tested its first rocket engine, Firefly Rocket Engine Research 1 (“FRE-R1″).

The launcher for this week’s Arianespace Soyuz mission is now ready for the countdown to its 11 September (UTC) lift-off, having been “topped off” with the payload of two European Galileo satellites.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) have agreed to co-operate in providing opportunities to deploy cube satellites (CubeSats) from the Japanese Experiment Module “Kibo” of the International Space Station (ISS).

On its eighth launch of 2015 and the 12th Soyuz launch from the Guiana Space Center, Arianespace will orbit the two latest satellites in the Galileo global navigation system on 11 September (UTC).

A Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket has been sent from the manufacturer in Samara to the Vostochny space centre for the launch, in a ceremony attended by Russian Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

Processing has been completed for the initial Soyuz Fregat upper stage to be handled in the Fregat Fuelling Facility (FCube) – the newest site at the Guiana Space Center. This milestone Fregat will be used for the upcoming Arianespace medium-lift Soyuz mission, which is set for 10 September with two European Galileo navigation satellites.

Rocket: Atlas V 551; Payload: MUOS-4; Date: 2 September, 1018 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The satellite separated from its Atlas V rocket approximately three hours after its successful launch.

Europe’s ninth and tenth Galileo satellites have been attached to the dispenser that will hold them during their flight up into space, then release them into their planned orbits.