Satellite News

Rocket: Minotaur V; Payload: Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE); Date: 7 September 2013, 0327 UTC; Launch site: Wallops Flight Facility, USA. The rocket separated the LADEE spacecraft 23 minutes after lift-off into its intended insertion point, successfully completing the rocket’s five-stage sequence. However, the spacecraft suffered a shutdown of its reaction wheels subsequently. NASA said that the wheels have been brought back online, and that the initial checkout flight procedure is progressing.

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Orbital Sciences Corporation announced that it is in final preparations for the launch of NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft aboard its new Minotaur V rocket. The vehicle is scheduled to be launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia on 7 September 2013 at approximately 0327 UTC. LADEE will mark the first lunar launch from the NASA Wallops facility and Orbital’s first Minotaur rocket launch of a payload that will travel beyond low-Earth orbit.

Following the first meeting of the joint government-industry committee on space, the French Minister of Higher Education and Research announced that the government was allocating EUR25 million to an upgrade of the Ariane 5 launcher, within the scope of France’s Investment Program for the Future (Programme d’Investissements d’Avenir, or PIA).

Rocket: Zenit 3SLB/Block DM-SLB ; Payload: Amos 4; Date: 31 August 2013, 2005 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The launch vehicle delivered the 4.26-ton telecommunication spacecraft Amos-4 into its target geostationary transfer orbit.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 4C; Payload: Yaogan Weixing-17; Date: 1 September 2013, 1916 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. According to Chinese media, “the satellite is in preset orbit.”

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said that the Epsilon-1 launch delay was caused by a computer glitch. The rocket was scheduled for launch from the Uchinoura Space Center on 27 August.