Satellite News

Arianespace announced that it has been selected by exactEarth to launch the ESAIL satellite using a Vega as part of the launcher’s Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) Proof of Concept (POC) flight.

Five more satellites will be added to Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System GLONASS in 2019, according to the Strategy of GLONASS Development until 2030.

A Chinese company has assembled a liquid oxygen-methane engine in Huzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province. The TQ-12 engine, independently developed by private rocket-maker LandSpace over the past two years, is a new generation power system for rockets. Its main components, the thrust chamber, gas generator, turbopump and valve have passed tests.

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: CRS-17; Date: 4 May 2019, =648 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. Dragon separated from Falcon 9’s second stage about 9 minutes after lift-off and will attach to the space station on Monday, May 6.

Rocket: Electron; Payload: STP-27RD mission; Date: 5 May 2019, 0600 UTC; Launch site: Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. Approximately 54 minutes after lift-off, the Electron launch vehicle’s Kick Stage successfully deployed the three payloads to their designated orbits.

All modules of India’s Chandrayaan-2 moon probe are getting ready for launch during a window of 9 July to 16 July 2019, with an expected Moon landing on 6 September 2019.

NASA A has requested SpaceX move off from 1 May for the launch of the company’s 17th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station.

The first launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East in 2019 is planned for 5 July, the press office of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roskosmos said.