Satellite News

Rocket: Atlas V; Payload: NROL-33; Date: 22 May, 1309 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The classified military satellite was successfully put into its target orbit.

The launch time of the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 14 (H-IIA F14) with the Daichi-2 (ALOS-2) satellite onboard was set for 24 May 2014, 0305-0320 UTC.

Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services (LMCLS) will launch the WorldView-3 commercial remote sensing spacecraft, placing it into orbit on 13 August for DigitalGlobe.

The development of a rocket engine to replace the Russian-made RD-180 would cost US$1.5 billion and take up to six years, Bloomberg reported citing data from an independent panel advising the Pentagon.

The first two Galileo Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites are a confirmed “fit” for their Arianespace Soyuz launch later in 2014 after making initial contact with the medium-lift mission’s dual-payload dispenser in French Guiana.

Aerojet Rocketdyne has received a contract from Stratolaunch Systems Corporation (SSC) to provide six RL10C-1 production engines, with an option to provide an additional six RL10C-1 production engines at a later date, for the third stage of a commercial air-launch system. The inaugural launch of Thunderbolt, the air-launch vehicle designed and developed for SSC, is scheduled for 2018.

Rocket: Delta IV; Payload: GPS IIF-6; Date: 18 May 2014, 0003 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. This was ULA’s fifth launch in 2014, and the 82nd successful launch since the company was formed in December 2006.

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down at 1905 UTC on Sunday in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 500 km west of Baja California, returning more than 1,575 km of NASA cargo and science samples from the International Space Station.