February 2019

Sergei Sopov, Chief Executive Officer of Sea Launch operator S7 Space is leaving the company. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019021703

The PRISMA satellite on Arianespace’s upcoming Vega mission has completed a key step in its pre-launch checkout process, which will enable this Italian Earth observation platform to be orbited in mid-March from French Guiana. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019021400

NanoRacks has successfully completed the company’s sixth CubeSat deployment mission from Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft. Cygnus (S.S. John Young) departed the International Space Station on 8 February 2019 and performed a number of on-orbit activities, including a NanoRacks deployment. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019021401

NASA resumed RS-25 rocket engine testing for its new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with a 13 February hot fire on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The hot fire marked the first RS-25 test of the year at Stennis, continuing a series with developmental engine No. 0525…

Spanish toll road operator Abertis has agreed to sell its 89.7% stake in Hispasat to Red Eléctrica for EUR949 million (US$1.072 billion). Red Eléctrica (REE) manages Spain’s high voltage electricity transmission lines but also operates a fibre optic network in the country. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019021403

Airbus SE reported consolidated financial results for 2018. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019021404

Eutelsat Communications and Afghanistan Broadcasting System (ABS) have signed a multi-year, multi-transponder contract for video capacity on the Eutelsat 53A satellite. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019021405

The Opportunity rover stopped communicating with Earth when a severe Mars-wide dust storm blanketed its location in June 2018. After more than a thousand commands to restore contact, engineers in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) made their last attempt to revive Opportunity on 12 February, to no avail. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019021300

NASA has selected a new space mission that will help astronomers understand both how our universe evolved and how common are the ingredients for life in our galaxy’s planetary systems. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019021301

GOES-17 is now operational as the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) GOES West satellite. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019021302