Satellite News

Russia’s Energomash scientific and production company has concluded a contract to deliver RD-181 rocket engines to Orbital Sciences. The engines will be used for the first stage of Antares rockets beginning 2015.

During its next flight, SpaceX will attempt the precision landing of a Falcon 9 first stage for the first time, on a custom-built ocean platform known as the autonomous spaceport drone ship. While SpaceX has already demonstrated two successful soft water landings, executing a precision landing on an unanchored ocean platform is significantly more challenging.

Arianespace’s next medium-lift Soyuz to be launched from French Guiana is now complete following the integration of its “upper composite,” which consists of four O3b Networks connectivity satellites, their protective payload fairing and the Fregat upper stage.

Alaska Aerospace Corporation (AAC) has selected Lockheed Martin’s Athena rocket as its launch vehicle of choice for small and medium lift missions from the Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC).

Rocket: Atlas V 541; Payload: NROL-35 (USA 259); Date: 13 December 2014, 0319 UTC; Launch site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA. According to amateur observations, the payload was deployed into a 2,101 km x 37,748 km. Its final (highly elliptical) orbit after some manoeuvring is expected to be a standard Molniya 2:1 resonant ground track, where the orbital period is roughly 12 hours.

Rocket: Proton M/Briz M; Payload: Yamal-401; Date. 15 December 2014, oo16 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The successful launch was the 400th mission for the Proton launch vehicle since its first flight in 1965.

The first experimental suborbital flight of India’s latest generation Launch Vehicle – GSLV Mk-III, carrying the Crew Module Atmospheric Re-entry Experiment (CARE), is scheduled on 18 December 2014 from SDSC SHAR.

A Russian Strela rocket with the Kondor-E 2 Earth observation satellite on board is due to be launched from the Baikonur space in Kazakhstan on 18 December at 0455 UTC.