May 2018

ICEYE, an Earth observation company providing synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) data, announced US$34 million Series B funding led by return investor True Ventures and supported by Draper Network VC funds and others. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018052403

Iridium Communications Inc. announced that SpaceX successfully launched five Iridium NEXT satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Shortly after deployment, Iridium confirmed successful communication with all five new satellites, formally bringing the total number of Iridium NEXT satellites in orbit to 55. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018052300

The recently launched GOES-17 weather satellite has a serious cooling problem that could affect the quality of its pictures. The satellite’s primary weather-monitoring instrument — the Advanced Baseline Imager — is not performing to specifications for about six hours each day. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018052301

NASA has awarded a contract to Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation, Boulder, Colorado, for the primary instrument components for the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018052302

A collaboration between Analytical Graphics Inc. (AGI) and Thoth Technology brings the 46-meter radio astronomy antenna at the Algonquin Radio Observatory (ARO) to the commercial space situational awareness (SSA) market. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018052303

Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: two GRACE Follow-On spacecraft, five Iridium NEXT satellites; Date: 22 May 2018, 1947 UTC; Launch site: Vandenberg Air Force Base,USA. All satellites were successfully deployed into their respective target orbits. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018052200

Telesat announced that orbit raising and payload testing on its Phase 1 LEO satellite have been completed and that the spacecraft is now ready to support live demonstrations of its capabilities. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018052201

Rocket: Antares; Payload: Cygnus "S.S. J.R. Thompson"; Date: 21 May 2018, 0844 UTC; Launch site: Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, Wallops Island, USA. Following an approximate nine-minute ascent, the Cygnus vessel was successfully deployed into orbit. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018052100

Rocket: Chang Zheng-4C; Payload: Queqiao, Longjiang-1, Longjiang-2; Date: 20 May 2018, 2128 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. About 25 minutes after lift-off, the satellite separated from the rocket and entered an Earth-Moon transfer orbit with a perigee of 200 km and an apogee of about 400,000 km. Meanwhile, the solar panels and…

Lockheed Martin recently put its fifth Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF-5) satellite through its paces in realistic simulations of its future launch experience. The satellite completed the tests successfully and is now in system-level testing in preparation for delivery to the U.S. Air Force in 2019. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018052102