Satellite News

NASA has rescheduled the launch of its five identical THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) microsatellites aboard a Delta II from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The U.S. Air Force will reportedly award Lockheed Martin Corp. a contract to launch the first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite aboard an Atlas V rocket.

Rocket: Zenit 3SL/Block DM-SL; Payload: XM-4 ‘Blues’; Date: 30 October, 2349 UTC; Launch Site: Odyssey Launch Platform, positioned on the equator at 154 degrees West Longitude in the Pacific Ocean. All systems performed nominally throughout the flight.

Sea Launch said the launch of the XM 4 radio broadcast satellite was rescheduled for later today (UTC).

ISRO said its cryogenic upper stage for GSLV was successfully hot tested on 28 October 2006 for a duration of 50 s. The test was carried out at the Liquid Propulsion Systems centre (LPSC) test complex at Mahendragiri.

Galaxy Express, a consortium led by Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., plans the first launch of its GX rocket five years later than originally envisioned, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B; Payload: Sinosat 2 (Xinnuo 2); Date: 28 October 2006, 1620 UTC; Launch Site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. About 25 minutes after lift-off, the high-power broadcast satellite was successfully placed in geosynchronous transfer orbit.

The launch of radio broadcast satellite XM-4 aboard a Zenit 3SL was scrubbed 60 seconds before lift-off, which was scheduled for 2349 UTC on 26 October.