News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
China’s Chang’e-4 lunar probe, launched in December, performed a "soft landing" on 3 December 2018 at 0226 UTC and transmitted the first-ever "close range" image of the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration said. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019010300
India’s second Moon mission Chandrayaan-2 has been delayed again, officials said. "The next launch date of Chandrayaan-2 has not been confirmed yet," a spokesman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019010301
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past Ultima Thule in the early hours of New Year’s Day, ushering in the era of exploration from the enigmatic Kuiper Belt. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019010200
On 31 December , NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, 110 million kilometers away, carried out a single, eight-second burn of its thrusters – and entered into orbit around the asteroid Bennu, which thus became the smallest object ever to be orbited by a spacecraft. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019010201
China’s Chang’e-4 probe has entered a planned orbit to prepare for the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019010202
Maxar Technologies Inc. announced the completion of its statutory plan of arrangement, pursuant to which the ultimate parent company of Maxar Technologies Ltd. ("Maxar Canada") became an entity incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in the United States of America (the "U.S. domestication"). http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019010203
Bradford Space, a U.S.-owned space systems manufacturer with locations in the Netherlands and Sweden, announced that it has acquired control over Deep Space Industries, Inc., often known as DSI. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019010204
The Indian government has approved a fund of around US$1.4 billion for its ambitious manned spaceflight (Gaganyaan Programme) that is to be launched within the next 40 months. The spacecraft will be launched to the low Earth orbit for a duration ranging from one orbital period to a maximum of seven days. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2019010205
"With 112 launches, 2018 saw the most launches since 1990. While 1984 still holds the record with 129 launches, that was for 170 payloads, compared to 413 for 2018–an all-time record. That does not include another 25 payloads deployed from the ISS. Keeping up with all these objects is proving a challenge. USSTRATCOM still shows…
Rocket: Chang Zheng 2D/YZ-3; Payload: Hongyan-1, six Yunhai-2 satellites; Date: 29 December 2018, 0800 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018122900