Satellite News

With unfavourable high-altitude winds above the Spaceport in French Guiana, Arianespace has taken the decision not to attempt a launch of Flight VV15 with the United Arab Emirates’ FalconEye1 satellite for the time being.

Russian specialists have replaced a battery in the Spektr-RG space telescope and its launch will take place on 12 July, Head of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin said.

Chinese scientists have made a breakthrough in cryogenic rocket engine technology that can extend the orbital period of rockets from a few hours to 30 days, state media reported.

Another Vega launch vehicle has completed its assembly process at the Spaceport in French Guiana, marking a major milestone as preparations continue for Arianespace’s sixth mission overall in 2019.

Exolaunch said it has completed a successful payload integration for an upcoming Soyuz launch from the Vostochny launch site. Lift off is currently schedules for 5 July, 0541 UTC. The rocket’s main payload is the Meteor M2-2 weather satellite.

NASA successfully demonstrated the Orion spacecraft’s launch abort system can outrun a speeding rocket and pull astronauts to safety during an emergency during launch.

United Launch Alliance spokeswoman Julie Arnold said that there was an emergency situation with a Russian-made RD-180 rocket engine in 2018 during a launch of Atlas V rocket, noting that the incident did not affect the flight.

Rocket: Electron; Payload: seven smallsats; Date: 29 June 2019, 0430 UTC; Launch site: Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. At approximately 56 minutes after lift-off, the payloads were successfully delivered to their precise individual orbits by Electron’s Kick Stage.