Satellite News

With the Antares test flight successfully completed, Orbital’s Antares and Cygnus teams are now focused on the demonstration mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the final milestone in the COTS joint programme with NASA. Orbital currently expects to be ready to carry out the Demonstration Mission in August, previously planned for mid-year.

The second Vega flight, due on 4 May (UTC) from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, has been postponed. The countdown was proceeding normally until it was halted 30 minutes before the planned lift-off owing to unfavourable weather conditions in the upper atmosphere.

The SES-6 satellite, designed and manufactured for SES by Astrium, has left Astrium’s facility in Toulouse, France, after completion of its final integration and test campaign and is now en route to Baikonur, Kazakhstan, in preparation for its launch on a Proton vehicle.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B/E; Payload: Chinasat 11 [Zhongxing 11, ZX 11, SupremeSat 2]; Date: 1 May 2013, 1606 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The satellite was sent into the preset orbit, Xinhua reported.

The second Vega mission from French Guiana (VV02) has entered its final preparation phase as the lightweight launcher is readied for a lift-off on 4 May UTC with a trio of satellites as its payload.

Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems announced that its Hybrid Rocket Motor propelled Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) sub-orbital vehicle on its first ever powered flight. SNC’s hybrid propulsion system is the largest hybrid ever used for space vehicle propulsion.

The first four satellites to serve O3b Networks in providing emerging market connectivity world-wide have entered their checkout phase at the Spaceport, readying them for a June flight on Arianespace’s fifth mission from French Guiana with its medium-lift Soyuz launcher.

ATK has successfully completed its solid rocket booster Preliminary Design Review (PDR) with NASA for the new Space Launch System (SLS). The PDR milestone indicates the booster design is on track to support first flight of the SLS in 2017.