Satellite News

Japanese operator JSAT Corporation has chosen Arianespace to launch its JCSAT-12 communications satellite, the replacement for JCSAT-11 that was lost in the crash of a Proton M/Briz M earlier this month.

Boeing Launch Services has been awarded a contract to launch the third COSMO-SkyMed commercial satellite for Thales Alenia Space Italia, the prime contractor of the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

Rocket: Chang Zheng 4B; Payload: CBERS 2B; Date: 19 September, 0326 UTC; Site: Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China. The Earth resources satellite separated from the rocket 12 minutes after lift-off, entering a near-circular Sun-synchronous orbit.

Here are a few additional details regarding the Delta II used in the launch of WorldView-1.

Rocket: Delta II (7920); Payload: WorldView-1; Date: 18 September 2007, 1835 UTC; Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA. The commercial imaging satellite was placed in orbit 73 minutes after lift-off.

Rocket: H-IIA; Payload: Kaguya (Selenological and Engineering Explorer, SELENE); Time: 14 September 2007, 0131 UTC; Site: Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. The launch vehicle flew smoothly, and at about 45 minutes and 34 seconds after lift-off the separation of the moon probe was confirmed.

Rocket: Soyuz-U; Payload: Foton-M3; Time: 14 September 2007, 1100 UTC; Site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The spacecraft, which is carrying a payload with European scientific experiments, was accurately placed on the target orbit.

As reported earlier, Astrium has selected Arianespace to launch four satellites of the space segment of the ELISA demonstrator. Here are a few additional details, and a clarification.