News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
Rocket: Rokot/Briz-KM; Payload: Gonets No.24, Gonets No.25, Gonets No.26, BLITS-M; Date: 26 December 2019, 2311 UTC; Launch site: Plesetsk, Russia. Three satellites were placed into approx. 1,500 km x 82,52° orbits. One (BLITS-M?) was tracked in a 1,182 km x 1,503 km x 82.52° orbit. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019122701
Payload integration is underway for Arianespace’s first mission of 2020 – designated Flight VA251 – which will orbit satellites at the service of two long-time partners using an Ariane 5 launch vehicle. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019122702
China’s 15-tonne reusable liquid oxygen-methane engine completed a run test with a duration of 500 seconds in Beijing. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019122703
China’s first satellite to conduct experiments on key technologies related to space-based gravitational wave detection, Taiji-1, has successfully completed in-orbit tests, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019122704
Rocket: Proton-M/Block DM-03; Payload: Elektro-L No.3; Date: 24 December 2019, 1203 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The satellite was deployed into a 35,405 km near-geostationary orbit six and a half hours after launch. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019122400
Roskosmos intends to launch a new Angara carrier rocket in 2020, the Roskosmos press office was quoted as saying. The launch was previously scheduled for December 2019. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019122401
One of Russia’s Meteor-M satellites became uncontrollable following an external impact, presumably a micrometeorite strike, Russia’s Roskosmos state space corporation said on its website. At present, the satellite has resumed controlled flight. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019122402
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that its Super Low Altitude Test Satellite "TSUBAME" (SLATS) was registered by the Guinness World Records as having achieved the "lowest altitude by an Earth observation satellite in orbit." http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019122403
Boeing’s Starliner vessel returned to Earth on Sunday, landing in the New Mexico desert in the United States after a clock problem prevented a rendezvous with the International Space Station. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine insisted that the space mission was not a complete failure. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019122200
GomSpace (GS) and Lockheed Martin Space agreed to develop and deliver a tailored GS 6U nanosatellite to Orbital Micro Systems (OMS) in the United Kingdom. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019122201