Satellite News

Rocket: Chang Zheng 11; Payload: Bufeng-1A, Bufeng-1B, five smallsats; Date: 5 June 2019, 0406 UTC; Launch site: floating platform in the Yellow Sea at 34.90 deg. N, 121.19 deg. E. The two technology experiment satellites and five commercial satellites were successfully launched.

The two satellite passengers for Arianespace’s upcoming Ariane 5 flight – AT&T T-16 [DirecTV 16] and Eutelsat 7C – are advancing through their payload preparation phases during parallel activity at the Spaceport in French Guiana.

ESA said it is working with industry towards the maiden flight of Europe’s new Vega-C launch vehicle in 2020 for more launches, with increased performance, to more orbits.

Russia’s Energomash Research and Production Association is working on the technology of carrier rockets’ reusable first stages, Energomash Chief Designer Pyotr Lyovochkin said in an interview published in the June edition of the Popular Mechanics journal.

Luokung Technology Corp. has announced a strategic partnership with LandSpace Technology Corporation Ltd. (“Land Space”).

The Proton M/Briz M launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 30 May at 1742 UTC successfully injected the Yamal-601 telecommunication satellite into orbit for the Russian satellite operator JSC Gazprom Space Systems.

Roskosmos has signed a contract for buying eight Soyuz-2-1a rockets, which will transport Progress MS resupply ships and Soyuz MS manned spaceships to the International Space Station (ISS), according to data from SPARK Marketing.

Northrop Grumman Corporation said it successfully conducted a full-scale static fire test of the first stage of its new OmegA rocket in Promontory, Utah, even though the test seems to have ended in a small explosion. The test verified the performance of the first stage solid rocket motor for the intermediate version of OmegA.