March 2020

Rocket Lab has signed a deal to launch a dedicated mission for Capella Space, an aerospace and information services company providing Earth observation data on demand. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020031101

The U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center’s Launch Enterprise Mission Manifest Office delivered a fully tested and integrated multi-manifest small satellite vehicle, known as TDO-2, to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for launch on the Advance Extremely High Frequency (AEHF)-6 mission. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020031102

The U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) at Los Angeles Air Force Base has awarded Lockheed Martin a US$240 million contract to develop a prototype payload for its new Protected Tactical SATCOM (PTS) system. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020031103

Arianespace announced a preorder from the European Space Agency (ESA), on behalf of the European Commission (DG Grow), for four launches using the Ariane 6 rocket. Planned to start in January 2022, these launches will orbit eight satellites from Batch 3 to support the final deployment of the Galileo constellation and the replacement of certain…

This year’s first launch of a Proton-M rocket with Ekspress-80 and Ekspress-103 communications satellites from the Baikonur spaceport has been postponed to late May owing to problems with the rocket’s components, Khrunichev Space Center Director General Alexei Varochko was quoted as saying. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020031001

Launch delays for Atlas V/AEHF-6 and Soyuz/FalconEye-2. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020031002

The joint NASA and Boeing Independent Review Team formed following the anomalies during the company’s uncrewed Orbital Flight Test as a part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program has completed its initial investigation. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020031003

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B/G2; Payload: Beidou-3G2Q; Date: 9 March 2020, 1155 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The rocket delivered the navigation satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit. China’s state media declared the launch a success. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020030900

Rocket Lab has announced that its next mission will deploy payloads for the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra Space. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020030901

Momentus said it has purchased rides on six SpaceX SmallSat Rideshare Program missions, including five launches to Sun-Synchronous orbit (SSO) and one to mid-inclined low Earth orbit, which Momentus will use to allow its customers access to custom drop-off altitudes and orbits in space. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020030902