News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
NEC Corporation announced that it received an order from Sumitomo Corporation for the manufacture and launch of the "LOTUSat-1" Earth observation satellite system for the Vietnam National Space Center (VNSC). http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042301
JUICE, the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer mission, has arrived at Airbus’ satellite integration centre in Friedrichshafen (Germany) for final integration. Until the end of 2020 it will be kitted out with its final components including harness, power electronics, onboard computer, communication systems, navigation sensors, thermal hardware and its scientific instruments. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042302
Rocket: Qassed; Payload: Nour [Noor]; Date: 22 April 2020, approx. 0400 UTC +/-2 minutes; Launch site: Shahroud, Markazi desert, Iran. The military satellite was placed into a 426 km x 444 km x 59.81 degrees orbit, according to U.S. tracking data. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042200
Firefly Aerospace, Inc. and Spaceflight Inc. have signed a Launch Services Agreement (LSA). The agreement confirms that Spaceflight will secure the majority of the payload mass aboard a Firefly Alpha launch, scheduled for lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in 2021. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042201
Eutelsat Communications has secured a multi-year contract with RCS Ghana to provide capacity for the broadcast of its DTH bouquet bringing content to viewers in Ghana and beyond. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042202
SpaceX has moved forward its Starlink-6 mission. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042100
Specialists of the Energomash Research and Production Association have launched active work to adapt the RD-180 liquid-propellant rocket engine for the new Soyuz-6 rocket, Energomash CEO Igor Arbuzov was quoted as saying. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042101
Ball Aerospace conducted a critical design review (CDR) of the Weather System Follow-on (WSF) satellite mission, which it is building for the U.S. Space Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC). With CDR concluded, Ball Aerospace begins full production of the satellite. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042102
NASA has awarded a sole source contract to the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder for the Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-2 (TSIS-2). The new sensor provides continuity to data delivered by TSIS-1, which launched in December 2017. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042103
At Baikonur cosmodrome, drawing to a close is the planned processing of the cargo transportation spacecraft Progress MS-14, developed and built by RSC Energia, for the launch under the programme of the 75th resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS). http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020042000