News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
China’s Chang’e-4 probe decelerated and entered the lunar orbit, completing a vital step on its way to make 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=2018121201
Spire Global, Inc announced Spire’s most recently launched satellites are the first satellites in the world to use Galileo GNSS signals to measure radio occultation (GNSS-RO) profiles in a production capacity for the weather community. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018121202
The U.S. Air Force’s first Lockheed Martin -built GPS III satellite is now encapsulated for its planned 18 December (UTC) launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018121100
The launch of the Russian-German Spektr-RG astrophysics observatory aboard a Proton-M with Blok DM-03 upper stage is planned for the first 10 days of April 2019. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018121101
GSAT-11 has been placed in its designated geostationary orbit after four orbit-raising manoeuvres, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018121102
MDA announced that the laser altimeter instrument it built for the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) contribution to NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission has scanned and collected its first data set of asteroid Bennu. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018121103
NASA’s Voyager 2 probe now has exited the heliosphere – the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018121000
Rocket: Chang Zheng 3B; Payload: Chang’e 4; Date: 7 December 2018, 1823 UTC; Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China. The lunar rover is expected to make the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon sometime in January. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018120900
Rocket: Chang Zheng 2D; Payload: SaudiSat 5A, SaudiSat 5B, 10 microsatellites and nanosatellites; Date: 7 December 2018, 0412 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. Officials declared the launch successful, according to China Great Wall Industry Corp. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018120901
For two times in a row, technical troubles have forced ULA to scrub a Delta IV Heavy launch attempt at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The rocket is to carry a classified U.S. National Reconnaissance Office satellite. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2018120902