Satellite News

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: Dragon/CRS-5; Date: 10 January 2015, 0947 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The Dragon vessel is to reach the International Space Station on 12 January at around 1112 UTC. An attempt to land the Falcon 9’s spent first stage aboard a platform in the Atlantic Ocean was not successful.

The U.S. Air Force has awarded one of its most important space procurements, potentially a multi-billion-dollar contract to operate, maintain, and sustain launch ranges at Florida’s Space Coast and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, to a joint venture of Raytheon and General Dynamics.

The fifth official SpaceX cargo mission to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract now is scheduled to launch at 0947 UTC on 10 January from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Arianespace carried out 11 launches from the Guiana Space Center in 2014, a record since the introduction of the family in 2011, resulting in revenues of around EUR1.4 billion. The company also provided details on the planned Ariane 6 rocket, which will come in two versions.

The U.S. Air Force said it expects to certify SpaceX to compete for launches no later than mid-2015, pushing back its original target date by six months.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3A; Payload: Fengyun II-08 (Fengyun 2G); Date: 31 December 2014, 0102 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The weather satellite was successfully launched for China Meteorological Administration.

The fifth SpaceX cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract now is scheduled to launch about 1118 UTC on 6 January from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The delay also affects the launch of NOAA’s DSCOVR satellite aboard a Falcon 9.

Es’hailSat has selected Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) to launch the company’s second satellite, Es’hail 2, in the fourth quarter of 2016 on board a Falcon 9 rocket.