Satellite News

Final payload integration is underway for Arianespace’s fifth Ariane 5 mission of 2009, with the Amazonas 2 telecommunications satellite now encapsulated in its payload fairing.

NASA said it was targeting 27 October for the flight test of the Ares I-X rocket, pending successful testing and data verification. Senior managers made the decision after a meeting at NASA Headquarters in Washington on 21 September.

The launch of the Russian Fobos-Grunt mission has been delayed until 2011, it has been officially confirmed.

The countdown for the launch of India’s Oceansat-2 satellite from Sriharikota has begun.
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Space Systems/Loral announced that Nimiq 5, a direct-to-home television satellite built for Telesat is performing post-launch manoeuvres according to plan.
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Rocket: Proton M/Briz M; Payload: Nimiq 5; Date: 17 September 2009, 1919 UTC; Site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. After a 9 hour 15 minute mission, the Briz M successfully released the satellite into geostationary transfer orbit.

Rocket: Soyuz 2.1b; Payload: Meteor M plus five small satellites; Date: 17 September 2009, 1555 UTC; Site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. According to Russian news agencies, the launch was successful.

The SMOS Earth Explorer satellite safely arrived at Arkhangelsk airport in Northern Russia this morning onboard an Antonov 124 cargo plane. This marks the start of the launch campaign for this ESA satellite.