Satellite News

Russia’s Energia Space Rocket Corporation will make an Angosat-2 telecommunications satellite for Angola by the end of 2021 to replace its predecessor Angosat-1 that is out of operation, Deputy Head of the State Space Corporation Roskosmos for Relations with State Authorities Sergei Dubik was quoted as saying.

Capella Space, an information services company providing Earth observation data on demand, unveiled its evolved satellite design to enable on-demand observations of anywhere on Earth.

After the injection of GSAT-30 communication satellite into an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) on 17 January 2020, all the three orbit raising manoeuvres have been completed successfully as planned using the satellite’s propulsion system.

Lockheed Martin shipped its third satellite based on the modernised LM 2100 bus to French Guiana for launch aboard an Ariane V rocket. JCSAT-17 will provide flexible mobile communications services to users in Japan and the surrounding region. Arianespace will launch JCSAT-17 from its spaceport in Kourou.

The Progress Space Rocket Center plans to launch two Aist-2T Earth’s remote-sensing satellites at the end of 2022, Progress CEO Dmitry BaraNovember was quoted as saying.

The Rosalind Franklin rover of the joint ESA-Roskosmos ExoMars mission completed a series of environmental tests at the end of 2019 at Airbus, Toulouse, France. This included final thermal and vacuum tests where the Rover is heated and cooled to simulate the temperatures of its journey through space and on the surface of Mars.

Landsat 9’s two science instruments are now attached to the spacecraft, bringing the mission one step closer to launch. In late December, the Operational Land Imager 2 (OLI-2) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor 2 (TIRS-2) were both mechanically integrated on to the spacecraft bus at Northrop Grumman in Gilbert, Arizona.

The GLONASS-M navigation satellite that was launched into orbit on 11 December 2019 has entered service.