News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
The 45th satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has started operation in the network after completing in-orbit tests, according to the Satellite Navigation System Management Office. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020051301
Rocket: Kuaizhou-1A (Y6); Payload: Xingyun-2 01, Xingyun-2 02; Date: 12 May 2020, 0116 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. The two smallsats were deployed into Sun-synchronous orbits of approx. 557 km x 572 km x 97,55 degrees. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020051200
The Soyuz-7 rocket for blastoffs from the Sea Launch platform is planned to be equipped with the new Fregat-SBU upper stage, the director-general of the upper stage developer – Lavochkin Research and Production Association – Vladimir Kolmykov was quoted as saying. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020051201
Airbus has won the new satellite communications framework contract for military and civil missions of the European Union and its member states. This four-year framework contract was awarded by the European Defence Agency (EDA) and is estimated to be worth tens of millions of euros. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020051202
Spacecom and Comtech Telecommunications Corp. announced the successful demonstration of a 1.3 Gbps link using Comtech EF Data’s CDM-760 Advanced High-Speed Trunking and Broadcast Modems operating over Amos-17 C-band HTS payload. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020051203
The Cygnus spacecraft successfully departed the International Space Station three months after arriving at the station to deliver about 7,500 of scientific experiments and supplies to the orbiting laboratory. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020051100
Rocket Lab has resumed launch operations for its next Electron launch following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions at Launch Complex 1. The mission will launch payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra Space. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020051000
VOX Space, the Virgin Orbit subsidiary which provides launch services for the U.S. national security community, has signed a new agreement with the Department of the Air Force, allowing the company’s LauncherOne system to conduct missions to space from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020051001
The TsNIIMash rocket and spacecraft scientific centre has confirmed the destruction in the Earth’s orbit of tanks of the Russian Fregat-SB upper stage, the press service of Roskosmos space agency said. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020051002
China’s new prototype spacecraft successfully landed on 8 May, marking an important step in its ambitions to run a permanent space station and send astronauts to the moon. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020051003