Satellite News

The launch of a Proton-M/Block DM-03, which is planned to deliver the Spektr-RG space observatory to orbit, has been delayed to a backup date, Russia’s Roskosmos State Space Corporation said.-

Rocket: Ariane 5 ECA; Payload: AT&T T-16 [f.k.a. DirecTV 16], Eutelsat 7C; Date: 20 June 2019, 2143 UTC; Launch site: Kourou, French Guiana. For its second launch of the year, Ariane 5 successfully placed the two telecommunications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).

Russia’s Vostochny space centre in the Far East will start launches under the OneWeb programme in early 2020, Russia’s Center for Operation of Space Ground-Based Infrastructure (TsENKI) said.

Rocket Lab’s seventh Electron launch – the third mission for 2019 – will carry seven small satellites to low Earth orbit in a rideshare mission dubbed “Make it Rain” procured by Spaceflight.

Firefly Aerospace has announced a global competition to host academic and educational payloads, free of charge, on the inaugural flight of the Firefly Alpha launch vehicle.

Viasat Inc. and Arianespace announced a modification to their original ViaSat-3 satellite launch contract, signed in 2016. Under the new agreement, the two companies agreed to move the ViaSat-3 satellite from an Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle to the next-generation Ariane 64 (A64) launcher. With this contract, Viasat will become the first commercial customer to commit to launch on the A64.

Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the signature of a launch services contract with an Ariane launch vehicle for JUICE (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer).

RUAG Space said it has developed a satellite Dispenser that enabled three large Radarsat Earth observation satellites to simultaneously launch on a single launcher.