Satellite News

The launch of five THEMIS satellites aboard a Delta II rocket scheduled for 15 February has been postponed 24 hours.

The second demonstration flight of the SpaceX Falcon 1 was pushed back to 9 March because of range constraints.

The launch of DirecTV 10 and DirecTV 11, apparently already delayed, is likely to be pushed back further as a consequence of the Zenit 3-SL failure.

China has chosen the site for a new satellite launching centre, the country’s fourth, on Hainan island in the South China Sea, Xinhua reported. At least one official has however denied the report, according to the Financial Times.

It looks increasingly likely that Israel will use a foreign vehicle to launch its radar spy satellite TechSAR, at least according to a report by Globes. The leading candidate is an Indian PSLV. This has been reported before, but the new Globes article may shed some light on Israel’s decision not to use its own Shavit 1 to launch the spacecraft.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3A; Payload: Beidou 1D (Beidou 4)?; Date: 3 February 2006, 1628 UTC; Launch Site: Xichang Satellite Launching Centre, China. The navigation satellite separated from the rocket about 24 minutes after lift-off.

The launch of the UK’s Skynet 5A and India’s INSAT 4B aboard an Ariane 5 ECA has been scheduled for 9 March.

SpaceDev announced that it has completed a series of three hot-fire tests of its hybrid upper stage motor, part of the SpaceDev Streaker Small Launch Vehicle development programme.