Satellite News

Tentative launch dates have been announced for the next Ariane 5 ECA and for SpaceX’s second Falcon 1 demo flight.

The two satellites launched aboard an Ariane 5 ECA on 11 March (UTC) are expected to take up service within a few weeks’ time.

Rocket: Ariane 5 ECA; Payload: Skynet 5A, INSAT 4B; Date: 11 March 2007, 2203 UTC; Launch Site: Kourou, French Guiana. The rocket successfully placed the two satellites in orbit after a 24-hour delay.

Rocket: Atlas V (401); Payload: Space Test Program 1 (STP-1); Date: 9 March 2007, 0510 UTC; Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The mission deployed the six satellites into two different low-Earth orbits.

27 March has been set as date for the next Dnepr cluster launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The launch of a Proton-M/Briz-M rocket carrying the Canadian telecommunications satellite Anik F3 from the Baikonur cosmodrome is scheduled for 10 April.

Another Sea Launch customer has switched launch vehicles in the wake of the Zenit 3-SL explosion in January: an Ariane 5 launch vehicle will deliver Spaceway 3 to Geostationary Transfer Orbit from Europe’s Spaceport at the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, in August of 2007.

The Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan is preparing for this year’s first launch of a Proton-M launch vehicle.