Satellite News

The launch of India’s Chandrayaan 1 moon probe will be delayed by about one month, ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair said.

The launch of Thailand’s THEOS aboard a Dnepr rocket has been postponed because Kazakhstan suddenly withdrew permission for the first-stage booster to fall within its borders.

Final payload integration is in full swing for Arianespace’s fifth Ariane 5 mission of 2008, with SES Americom’s AMC-21 satellite now installed atop an Ariane 5 ECA at the Spaceport in French Guiana.

Frederic d’Allest, honorary chairman and ex-CEO of Arianespace, warned in an op-ed article that the Ariane rocket may disappear from the commercial launch market within a few years unless a more powerful version is developed.

A prototype first stage for the new South Korean launch vehicle KSLV-I is on its way to the Naro Space Center located in Goheung, southwestern Korea.

The launch of a Proton M/Briz M vehicle with the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite, previously scheduled for 13 August, has been delayed to allow time to replace and retest a launcher electrical component.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.on 31 August conducted the first nine engine firing of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle at its Texas Test Facility.

ESA announced an opportunity to embark payloads on the second flight of the Vega small launcher planned for mid 2010. This will be the first of five flights that are planned to demonstrate Vega’s versatility.