Satellite News

For its third flight with Ariane 5 this year, Arianespace will orbit two telecommunications satellites for long-term customers: Intelsat 39, for the operator Intelsat; and the EDRS-C satellite, based on a public-private partnership between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus.

H-II Transfer Vehicle KOUNOTORI8, the Japanese cargo transporter to the International Space Station (ISS), will launch aboard the H-IIB Vehicle No. 8 on 10 September 2019 (UTC).

China said it successfully tested the technology that can accurately control the landing site of falling rocket parts, making progress toward reusable launch vehicles in the future, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: Dragon CRS-18; Date: 25 July 2019, 2201 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Dragon separated from Falcon 9’s second stage about nine minutes after lift-off and arrived at the ISS on 27 July.

Russia may start using its RD-180 rocket engines, which it exports to the United States but does not currently use itself, in the first stages of Soyuz-2.1 carriers, Russian State Space Corporation Roskosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin was quoted as saying.

Rocket: Hyperbola-1; Payload: CAS 7B, others ; Date: 25 July, 0500 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, China. It was the first successful orbital launch by a privately funded Chinese firm.

OneWeb plans to begin launching 35 to 40 communications satellites a month in December, and has 27 Soyuz rocket missions lined up through Arianespace to send them aloft, company officials said.

Rocket Lab has announced its next launch is a mission carrying satellites destined to begin a new constellation for UNSEENLABS, as well as more rideshare payloads for Spaceflight, consisting of a spacecraft for BlackSky and the United States Air Force Space Command.