Satellite News

The return capsule of JAXA’s Hayabusa2 mission has safely landed in Australia, hopefully carrying rock samples from beneath the surface of asteroid Ryugu that scientists say could provide clues to the origin of the solar system and life on our planet.

The ascender of China’s Chang’e-5 probe successfully rendezvoused and docked with the orbiter-returner combination in lunar orbit, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced Sunday.

The U.S Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center’s Production Corps successfully transferred Satellite Control Authority of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) Space Vehicle 6 to Space Operations Command on 29 October. Operational Acceptance is expected to occur before the end of the year after operational testing has successfully concluded. The fourth Space Operation Squadron will exercise operational control as the satellite is integrated into the constellation.

The scatterometer (SCA) antenna subsystem of the weather satellite MetOp-SG-B, built by prime contractor Airbus Defence and Space, has successfully passed the Test Review Board (TRB). This validates the technical quality of the antenna design and production.

China plans to launch a new Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging satellite for monitoring Arctic shipping routes, the satellite developers said.

China’s Chang’e-5 probe has completed sampling on the moon, the samples have been sealed inside the ascent vehicle, which then lifted off from the moon’s surface at 1510 UTC.

Thales Alenia Space has signed a EUR482 million contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to build the Copernicus Radar Observation System for Europe in L-band (ROSE-L) environmental monitoring satellite, as part of Europe’s Copernicus programme, the first tranche being EUR90 million.

Lockheed Martin announced the U.S. Space Force has determined the fifth Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit satellite (SBIRS GEO-5) is complete and ready for launch in 2021.