Satellite News

SES Astra announced that the launch of its new satellite Astra 1M from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is scheduled for 31 October 2008.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) insists the fourth flight of its Falcon 1 rocket was “right on target.” Also, the next Falcon 1 launch is delayed once again.

The launch of the United States’ next military weather satellite, DMSP-F18, has been delayed again. However, this time not because of any problem – on the contrary.

Arianespace and Eutelsat Communications confirmed that the upcoming launch of the Ariane 5 ECA will orbit Eutelsat’s Hotbird 9 and W2M satellites, as rumoured over the past few weeks in Internet fora. It would be the first Ariane 5 dual launch for a single commercial satellite operator.

The launch of the Gravity field and state-steady Ocean Circulation Explorer, or GOCE, which had been postponed from 10 September to 5 October, has been delayed for a second time, ESA said.

Rocket: Dnepr; Payload: THEOS (Thailand Earth Observation Satellite); Date: 1 October 2008, 0637 UTC; Site: Yasny (Dombarovsky), Russia. The satellite was placed in a 680-km Sun-synchronous orbit about half an hour after lift-off.

GMV announced it will provide support to The Hammers company for a US$14.9 million contract with NASA to build the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) Mission Operations Element (MOE).

Pre-launch activities for Astra 1M – a commercial telecommunications satellite built by EADS Astrium for SES Astra – aboard a Khrunichev-built Proton M have begun at Baikonur.