Satellite News

Rocket: GSLV MkIII-M1; Payload: Chandrayaan-2; Date: 22 July 2019, 0913 UTC; Launch site: Sriharikota, India. The Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft was placed into a 169.7 km x 45,475 km orbit. This was the first operational flight of the GSLV Mk III.

Rocket: Soyuz-FG; Payload: Soyuz MS-13; Date: 20 July 2019, 1628 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. After lift-off, the crewed spaceship entered orbit in approximately nine minutes.

Virgin Orbit has been selected by the U.K.’s Royal Air Force (RAF) to provide responsive launch capabilities for a small satellite constellation Operational Capability Demonstrator through a new RAF project named “ARTEMIS.”

India’s Chandrayaan2 moon mission will now lift off at 0913 UTC on 22 July, space agency ISRO said, three days after the launch was aborted due to a technical snag in its GSLV-Mk-III rocket.

The qualification tests of the Vulcain 2.1 engine, which will power the Ariane 6 main stage, were completed during the 26th development test.

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket carrying the GPS III SV02 mission for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center is delayed, due to an anomaly during component testing at a supplier which has created a cross-over concern.

A leak aboard the GSLV rocket forced India to abort the launch of its Chandrayaan2 Moon mission less than one hour before lift-off, media reports said.

Rocket: Soyuz-2.1v/Volga; Payload: four military satellites [probably designated Kosmos 2535, 2536, 2537 and 2538]; Date: 10 July 2019, 1714 UTC; Launch site: Plesetsk, Russia. The successful separation of all four satellites was announced four hours later.