News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
Eutelsat Communications has reached an agreement with Bigblu Broadband to acquire its European satellite broadband activities. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020080206
The launch of an Ariane 5 with three spacecraft onboard was scrubbed about two minutes before the scheduled lift-off on 2130 UTC. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020073100
Rocket: Proton M/Briz M; Payload: Ekspress-80, Ekspress-103; Date: 30 July 2020, 2125 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Briz M upper stage released Ekspress-80 — riding in the upper position in the dual-satellite stack — at 1524 UTC on 31 July, followed by the deployment of Ekspress-103 17 minutes later. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020073101
Thales Alenia Space has signed a EUR72 million first tranche contract with OHB System, prime contractor of the project, to develop the payload for the 2 satellites of the CO2M mission, as part of Europe’s Copernicus programme. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020073102
Flight controllers for NASA’s Mars 2020 mission have returned the spacecraft to nominal flight operations. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020073103
China declared the official commissioning of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) on Friday, marking the formal opening of the newly completed BDS-3 system for global users. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020073104
The global space economy in 2019 grew more than US$9 billion over the previous year, reaching US$423.8 billion, according to new findings published by Space Foundation’s 2020 second-quarter issue of The Space Report. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020073105
Rocket: Atlas V 541/Centaur; Payload: Mars 2020 (Perseverance rover and Ingenuity Mars helicopter); Date: 30 July 2020, 1150 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The Atlas V’s Centaur upper stage initially placed the Mars 2020 spacecraft into a parking orbit around Earth. The engine fired for a second time and the spacecraft…
Russia’s Energia Space Rocket Corporation signed a contract on creating the Baiterek [also: Baitarek] launch compound for Soyuz-5 next-generation rockets at the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan, the Russian space agency Roskosmos reported. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020073001
Eutelsat Communications and Intelsat S.A. have signed a long-term partnership agreement securing the 48° East orbital position. Eutelsat Quantum will be located at the position, where the operators both have orbital rights. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020073002