Satellite News

The U.S. Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) said it has established the Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) programme, which aims to develop a fully reusable unmanned vehicle that would provide aircraft-like access to space. The vehicle is envisioned to operate from a “clean pad” with a small ground crew and no need for expensive specialised infrastructure.

The U.S. Air Force’s third Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) military communications satellite, designed and built by a Lockheed Martin team, is ready to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Orbital Sciences Corporation announced it is prepared to launch its Antares rocket carrying the company’s new Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch is currently planned to take place on 18 September with lift-off scheduled at 1450 UTC from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia.

The first of the three Astrium-built Swarm research satellites is on its way to the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. An Ilyushin-76, headed for Russia, took off from Munich Airport this morning. The remaining two satellites, plus the test and installation equipment, will follow at two-day intervals, amounting to a total of 63 tonnes of freight.

The deployable sunshield framework for Europe’s Gaia billion-star surveyor has been unpacked at the spaceport in French Guiana, marking a new milestone in preparations for Arianespace’s next mission with its medium-lift Soyuz launcher.

Rocket: Epsilon-1; Payload: SPRINT-A ‘Hisaki’; Date: 14 September 2013, 0500 UTC; Launch site: Uchinouora Space Center, Japan. The new launch vehicle flew smoothly, and, at about 61 minutes and 39 seconds after lift-off, the separation of SPRINT-A was confirmed.

Orbital Sciences Corp. will postpone by at least 24 hours the launch of its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft on a demonstration mission to the International Space Station.

The third Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite built by Lockheed Martin has been encapsulated into its payload fairing in preparation for a lift-off aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 18 September.