Satellite News

A Kosmotras Dnepr launch vehicle with five RapidEye Earth observing satellites is to take off from the Baikonur launch pad, Kazakhstan, on 29 August. The launch window opens at 0715 UTC.

GeoEye-1 is scheduled to launch aboard a Delta II on 4 September at 1951 UTC, with a 1 minute 24 second launch window, from Space Launch Complex-2 at VAFB, California/USA.

Antrix Corp. Ltd, the commercial arm of ISRO, has won two deals from Algeria and Italy to launch Earth observation satellites next year on PSLV rockets.

Iran has rejected reports from the U.S. that claim the recent launch of a Safir 1 rocket failed.

The Briz M upper stage that will be used for the next ILS Proton launch last Sunday arrived at Yubileiny Airport on an Antonov cargo plane provided by the Russian air carrier Polyot.

A few more details have emerged regarding the apparently failed launch of an Iranian Safir 1 rocket.

Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center have completed a series of tests on a key component of the J-2X engine. The J-2X powers the upper stage of the Ares I rocket, whose first launch currently is scheduled for 2015.

Rocket: Proton M/Briz M; Payload: Inmarsat 4-F3; Date: 18 August 2008, 2243 UTC; Site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. After a 9-hour-3-minute mission, the launcher released the satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.