Satellite News

The launch of a Russian Soyuz ST rocket with the UAE’s FalconEye-2 optical-electronic surveillance satellite from the Kourou Space Center is further delayed.

With the successful final qualification of the P120C at the European Spaceport (CSG) in Kourou on 7 October, the qualification models of three engines for Ariane 6 have now all been tested successfully.

Rocket: Soyuz 2.1-a; Payload: Soyuz MS-17; Date: 14 October 2020, 0545 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. At o848 UTC, just a little bit more than three hours after its lift-off, the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft completed a normal docking with the Rassvet module of the Russian Segment of the International Space Station.

The Swedish government has announced a decision to establish capability to launch small satellites from Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden.

Spaceflight Inc. said it will execute two launches on two different continents in a matter of weeks; one aboard a Rocket Lab Electron and the other on NewSpace India Limited’s (NSIL) PSLV. For both missions, Spaceflight arranged the launch and is providing mission management and rideshare integration services for its customers Canon Electronics, Kleos Space and Spire.

Arianespace announced that new shared payload opportunities to low Earth orbit (LEO) have been opened with its Vega launcher’s Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS). For the next launch opportunity – Vega Flight VV18, targeted for the first quarter of 2021 – five companies already have signed contracts for payload slots, thereby fully booking the capacity on this mission.

Northrop Grumman Corporation said it will continue supporting NASA’s Artemis missions by providing six additional abort motors and attitude control motors (ACM) for the Orion human spaceflight capsule’s Launch Abort System (LAS), under an agreement with Lockheed Martin, Orion’s prime contractor.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B; Payload: Gaofen 13; Date: 11 October 2020, 1657 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The spacecraft entered its predetermined geostationary transfer orbit and deployed its solar arrays.