Satellite News

The Astra 5B satellite has safely arrived at the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The spacecraft is now being processed for launch on board an Ariane 5 rocket scheduled for lift-off 6 December 2013.

Rocket: PSLV-C25; Payload: Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan); Date: 5 November 2013, 0908 UTC; Launch site: Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, India. Forty-three minutes after lift-off, the Mars probe was successfully deployed into an Earth orbit where it will stay until 30 November 2013.

Spaceflight Inc., a provider of launch services for small and secondary payloads, and NanoRacks LLC, a company commercialising space operations on and deployment from the International Space Station, formally announced a partnership to provide commercial launch services from the ISS.

The final ATV to be launched by Arianespace under current arrangements with the European Space Agency (ESA) has completed its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean and arrived at French Guiana’s Pariacabo Port aboard the AGATA M cargo ship.

The launch of ESA’s magnetic field mission from Plesetsk, Russia, has been postponed by about a week.

Roskosmos is mulling the development of a new launch vehicle capable of carrying payloads of up to 70 tons.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3C; Payload: Yaogan 18; Date: 29 October 2013, 0250 UTC; Launch site: Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. Chinese media reported the launch of the reconnaissance satellite was successful.

Arianespace’s next Soyuz flight from French Guiana is now scheduled for lift-off on 20 December with the adjusted launch date enabling the switch-out of two transponders on the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia star-mapper payload.