Satellite News

Chinese state media said the recently launched Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing 5 (TJSW-5) has entered a preset orbit. It will be used in communication, radio, television and data transmission, as well as to test high throughput technology.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: 60 Starlink satellites; Date: 7 January 2020, 0219 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The satellites were deployed at an altitude of 290 kilometers and will later engage their ion thrusters to reach an operational orbit of 550 kilometers.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B/G2; Payload: Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing 5 (TJSW-5); Date: 7 January 2020, 1520 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The satellite was deployed into geostationary transfer orbit.

Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the signature of a launch services contract for the Euclid satellite – with the mission’s timeframe for lift-off starting in mid-2022 from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana (South America).

The Progress Rocket and Space Center (RCC, part of Russian space corporation Roskosmos), together with S7 Space (operator of the Sea Launch project), have begun to work on the parameters of a rocket for the Sea Launch project, a spokesperson with the centre said.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is ready to launch its GSAT-30, a heavy communication satellite on 16 January (UTC) from Kourou, French Guiana. GSAT-30 will launch on board an Ariane-5.

Russia’s state space corporation Roskosmos has scheduled launches of over 40 space rockets in 2020, Roskosmos said. Chinese space launches are also expected to exceed 40, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

Rocket: Proton-M/Block DM-03; Payload: Elektro-L No.3; Date: 24 December 2019, 1203 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The satellite was deployed into a 35,405 km near-geostationary orbit six and a half hours after launch.