Satellite News

A post-test inspection of the composite structure for a heat shield to be used on the Mars 2020 mission revealed that a fracture occurred during structural testing. The mission team is working to build a replacement heat shield structure. The situation will not affect the mission’s launch readiness date of 17 July 2020.

Next-generation GLONASS satellites will be put into orbit starting next year, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin was quoted as saying.

The relay satellite for the Chang’e-4 lunar probe expected to land on the far side of the Moon later this year, has been named “Queqiao” – magpie bridge.

A new highly precise MicroWave Radiometer (MWR) built by Airbus is ready to start operations after the launch of the Sentinel-3B satellite built by Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor for this programme. Launch aboard a Rokot lifting off from Plesetsk, Russia, is currently scheduled for 25 April, 1757 UTC.

Lockheed Martin is providing the Commonwealth of Australia with an iSpace Space Situational Awareness training and demonstration mission system.

NASA’s ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) recently arrived at Kennedy Space Center and has begun begin final preparations for launch to the International Space Station this summer.

EarthNow LLC announced its intent to deploy a large constellation of advanced imaging satellites that will deliver real-time, continuous video of almost anywhere on Earth.

The MetOp-C meteorological satellite is getting ready for upcoming launch in order to join its siblings and further improve the quality of observations and data provided for weather forecast.