News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B; Payload: Gaofen 13; Date: 11 October 2020, 1657 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The spacecraft entered its predetermined geostationary transfer orbit and deployed its solar arrays. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020101100
Russia’s Soyuz-2.1a rocket and Soyuz MS-17 crewed spacecraft have been rolled out to their Baikonur launch pad ahead of a flight to the International Space Station (ISS), Roskosmos said. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020101101
Launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission to the International Space Station is now targeted for no sooner than early-to-mid November, providing additional time for SpaceX to complete hardware testing and data reviews as the company evaluates off-nominal behaviour of Falcon 9 first stage engine gas generators observed during a recent non-NASA mission launch attempt. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020101102
The launch of Russia’s next-generation GLONASS-K navigation satellite, which has been postponed several times, is now scheduled for late October, Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems said. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020101103
A ‘self-eating’ rocket engine which aims to put small payloads into orbit by burning its own structure as propellant has won financial support from the UK Government. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020101104
Two microsatellites have failed to separate from their dispenser during the launch of a Vega rocket (Flight VV16), a source was quoted as saying by Sputnik news agency. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020101105
China’s Mars probe Tianwen-1 successfully conducted a deep-space manoeuvre on Friday, according to the China National Space Administration. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020101106
Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) has announced the launch of the Kepler-4 and Kepler-5 CubeSats. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020101107
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced that it has received a contract extension for a second year of operations of their Orbital Test Bed (OTB) spacecraft supporting the NASA/JPL Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC) mission. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020101108
Cobham SATCOM and Kepler Communications have announced the completion of connectivity trials on Kepler’s low-Earth orbit (LEO) network with the SAILOR 600 VSAT Ku antenna system. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020101109