Satellite News

Roskosmos is going to hand over the reins of the construction of the Vostochny cosmodrome to the Russian government, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said. He pointed out that the construction of the cosmodrome is now in its final stage, only about six months are left until the first middle-class rocket is going to be launched from Vostochny.

The first geostationary satellite built in Argentina – ARSAT-1 – has been delivered to French Guiana, where the spacecraft will be readied for Arianespace’s dual-passenger Ariane 5 mission VA220 in mid-October.

The Russian Defense Ministry has decided to stop using the Rokot launcher from 2016 because of its reliance on imported parts and will switch to the Soyuz and Angara carriers, Aerospace Defense Forces commander Lt. Gen. Alexander Golovko said.

Preparations continue to move ahead for Arianespace’s Ariane 5 Flight VA218, as the Optus 10 spacecraft has undergone its fit-check and fuelling for a dual-passenger mission targeted for 11 September from French Guiana.

Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are wrapping up acoustic testing on a 5-percent scale model of NASA’s Space Launch System. The 28 August test, the 34th in the series, will help NASA engineers understand how loud the SLS vehicle will be during lift-off.

Russia’s space defence force started tests of the newest heavy-class Angara A5 rocket.

NASA officials announced they have completed a rigorous review of the Space Launch System (SLS) and approved the programme’s progression from formulation to development, something no other exploration class vehicle has achieved since the agency built the space shuttle. However, the vehicle’s first flight has been delayed.

NASA has completed a complex series of tests on one of the largest composite cryogenic fuel tanks ever manufactured, bringing the aerospace industry much closer to designing, building, and flying lightweight, composite tanks on rockets.