News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
ESA’s Light satellite Launch opportunities initiative is investigating possible low-cost launch services based on Ariane 6, Vega and Vega-C efficiently combining payloads in the same mission and offering a standardised service to customers. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018032501
Rocket: Soyuz-FG; Payload: Soyuz MS-08 [Soyuz 54S]; Date: 21 March 2018, 1844 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The crewed vessel was launched on a two-day flight to the International Space Station. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018032100
The Airbus-operated SpaceDataHighway has begun regularly relaying data from the Sentinel-2A satellite, after the successful end of the commissioning period. This marks the start of the SpaceDataHighway service using all four Copernicus Sentinel satellites and the beginning of a new era for space-based imagery users. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018032101
Ariel, the Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey mission, was selected by ESA as part of its Cosmic Vision plan. The mission addresses one of the key themes of Cosmic Vision: What are the conditions for planet formation and the emergence of life? http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018032000
Raytheon Company’s GPS Next-Generation Operational Control System, known as GPS OCX, is in its final software development phase. This phase focuses on increasing automation and building controls for both L1C, a civilian GPS signal aimed at increasing international access, and M-code, a military GPS signal with better anti-jam capability. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018032001
The Sentinel-3B satellite was shipped from Thales Alenia Space’s Cannes plant last week. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018031900
GovSat-1 has entered operational service, to provide secure communications to governmental and institutional users. GovSat-1 is the first satellite of GovSat, a public private partnership between the Government of Luxembourg and satellite operator SES. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018031901
Rocket: Chang Zheng 2D; Payload: Land Survey Satellite 4 (Ludikancha Weixing 4, LKW-4); Date: 17 March 2018, 0710 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, China. China’s main space contractor CASC confirmed that launch had been successfully towards a 500 km altitude Sun-synchronous orbit less than an hour after lift-off. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018031800
Aerojet Rocketdyne recently completed delivery of all of the crew module engines for Boeing’s Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 Starliner spacecraft. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018031801
The Fourth Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), the main contractor for the Chinese space programme, officially unveiled a new subordinate entity to build space-based Internet services using 80 small satellites. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018031802