News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
Arianespace announced the loss of the Vega VV17 mission, which was carrying two payloads, SEOSAT-Ingenio, an Earth-science observation satellite for the European Spatial Agency (ESA) and TARANIS for France’s National Centre for Space Studies (CNES). Human error is suspected to have caused the mishap. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111700
The fifth Chang Zheng-5 rocket, to be used to launch China’s Chang’e-5 lunar probe, was vertically transported to the launching area at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province on Tuesday. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111701
Viasat Inc. announced that its solid-state, fully-electronic phased array flat panel antenna, selected by SES for the O3b mPOWER satellite communications system, has entered the Test Readiness Review (TRR) stage of the programme. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111702
Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: Crew Dragon; Date: 16 November 2020, 0027 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The Crew-1 mission is the first of six crewed missions NASA and SpaceX will fly as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111600
The Eutelsat KONNECT telecommunication satellite is now operational in orbit. Built by Thales Alenia Space and launched by Arianespace on 17 January, this high throughput satellite reached its geostationary orbit on 22 July, seven months after lift-off. The satellite then underwent a battery of tests in orbit, to be now fully operational. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111601
Viasat Inc. and Infostellar Inc., a Japanese Ground Segment as a Service (GSaaS) start-up, announced it signed a Real-Time Earth (RTE) agreement. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111602
Arianespace has given the "green light" for its Vega launch on 17 November (UTC) which will orbit a pair of European-built satellites: Spain’s SEOSAT-Ingenio and TARANIS of France. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111500
NASA is now targeting 1717 UTC on Saturday, 21 November for the launch of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, the first of two identical satellites to head into Earth orbit five years apart to continue sea level observations for at least the next decade. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111501
OHB Italia, a subsidiary of space and technology group OHB SE, signed a contract appointing OHB Italia as one of the two prime contractors performing a study of the Comet Interceptor mission, a new fast-class, deep space mission led by the European Space Agency. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111502
The UK subsidiary of SSC (Swedish Space Corporation) has been awarded a contract by the European Space Agency ESA to develop a next generation concept for space to ground communications targeting the "NewSpace" (CubeSats and SmallSats) market. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020111503