Satellite News

NASA’s Launch Services Program has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for new commercial Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) for small satellites, often called CubeSats or nanosatellites, and experiments on science missions using a class of rockets smaller than any currently available to the agency.

An RS-25 engine fired up for 500 seconds 11 June at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. It was the third firing of an RS-25 development engine on the A-1 test stand at Stennis.

The two satellite passengers for Arianespace’s third Ariane 5 mission in 2015 are advancing through their pre-flight preparations, with MSG-4 and Star One C4 each completing separate fit-check processes during activity at the Spaceport in French Guiana.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the National Research and Development Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have set a launch date for the H-IIB Launch Vehicle No. 5 (H-IIB F5) with the H-II Transfer Vehicle “Kounotori 5″ (HTV5, a cargo transporter to the International Space Station).

NASA has approved a US$30 million milestone payment to SpaceX under the agency’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) agreement with the company following a recent and successful pad abort test of its Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Rocket: Soyuz-2.1a; Payload: Kobalt-M #10 (Kosmos-2505); Date: 5 June 2015, 1524 UTC; Launch site: Plesetsk, Russia. The successful mission marked the return to flight for the Proton-2.1a after the loss of a Progress supply vessel on 28 April.

The Sentinel-2A satellite has been fuelled as preparations continue for its launch on Arianespace’s next Vega mission, which is scheduled for lift-off from French Guiana on 22 June.

News dates have been set for the next flights of the Vega and Ariane 5 rockets.