Satellite News

Indra has closed an agreement with the European Space Agency to host the main processing and archiving centre for the images of the Sentinel-2 mission at its facilities and take charge of its operation.

The Russian space agency has notified NASA that the launch of a new Russian research module to the International Space Station has been postponed until at least 2015.

The much anticipated launch of SES-8 aboard a Falcon 9 v1.1 has been scrubbed.

Rocket: Soyuz-U; Payload: Progress M-21M; Date: 25 November 2013, 2053 UTC; Launch Site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The unmanned cargo transporter is to arrive at the International Space Station on 29 November.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 2D; Payload: Shiyan Weixing-5; Date: 25 November 2013, 0212 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. State media reported the launch was successful.

Rocket: Rokot/Briz-KM; Payload: three Swarm satellites; Date: 22 November 2013, 1202 UTC; Launch site: Plesetsk, Russia. Some 91 minutes later, the Briz-KM upper stage released the three satellites into a near-polar circular orbit at an altitude of 490 km. There are some indications that a subsequent manoeuvre to lower the upper stage’s altitude did not go as planned.

The checks on the Gaia satellite are proceeding nominally, enabling Arianespace in agreement with ESA to announce the launch date. Lift-off of the Soyuz ST-B launcher is set for 19 December at precisely 0912:18 UTC.

After successfully placing the CASSIOPE satellite into orbit on 29 September, the upper stage of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 v1.1 failed to reignite as planned. The company said it has now identified the cause.