News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
Chinese commercial launcher developer and launch service provider LandSpace Technology Corporation Ltd. (LandSpace) announced that the company is seeking and accepting payloads from around the world for the maiden launch of its proprietary ZhuQue-2 (ZQ-2) launcher powered by a LOX/LCH4 [liquid oxygen/methane] rocket engine. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019082900
An Iranian rocket exploded on its launch pad at Imam Khomeini Space Center in northern Iran before its scheduled launch on 29 August 2019, an Iranian official said. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019082901
Eutelsat Communications announced the safe arrival of Eutelsat 5 West B at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where it is due for launch on a Proton Briz M rocket on 30 September overseen by International Launch Services. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019082800
At Northrop Grumman Corporation in Redondo Beach, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Spacecraft Element (SCE) and Optical Telescope Element/Integrated Science Instrument Module (OTIS) are now one. Both halves of the telescope (SCE and OTIS) have been successfully assembled. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019082801
GomSpace and ESA have signed a development contract at a value of EUR1,425,000 for GomSpace Luxembourg SARL’s continued development of the Mega-Constellation Operations Platform (MCOP) product. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019082802
A week after its launch aboard a Chang Zheng 3B/E rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Chinasat 18 (Zhongxing 18, ZX 18) still has not left geostationary transfer orbit and might be considered a total loss. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019082803
Russia’s Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft with the humanoid robot Skybot F-850, nicknamed FEDOR, succeeded in automatically docking to the International Space Station (ISS) on the second try. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019082700
The European Space Agency’s ExoMars rover is leaving the UK for Airbus in Toulouse where it will undergo crucial testing ahead of delivery to Thales Alenia Space. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019082701
Raytheon will build the Geostationary Littoral Imaging and Monitoring Radiometer, or GLIMR, sensor, under a contract from the University of New Hampshire. GLIMR, NASA’s selected Earth Venture Instrument-5 investigation, will be NASA’s first hyperspectral imager in geostationary, or GEO, orbit. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019082702
Arianespace announced the signature of a launch services contract with Ovzon (f.k.a. OverHorizon) for the company’s first geostationary-orbiting telecommunications satellite: Ovzon-3. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019082600