News on key developments at SupremeSAT, and general news on the Space and Satellite industry from across the web
Rocket: Soyuz-2.1b/Fregat; Payload: 34 OneWeb satellites; Date: 21 March 2020, 1706 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The satellites were deployed into orbits of approx. 445 km x 475 km x 87.4 degrees during a flight lasting 3 hours and 45 minutes. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020032200
OneWeb is mulling a possible bankruptcy filing to address a cash crunch as it struggles with high costs and stiff competition, Bloomberg News reported citing people with knowledge of the preparations. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020032201
Northrop Grumman received a US$48.2 million contract for the procurement of Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) to legacy Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Satellite Communications Gateway Component systems and services. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020032202
The Progress rocket and space centre has started manufacturing components for Russia’s prospective super-heavy Yenisei rocket, Roskosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin has said. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020031900
After undergoing a series of performance and environmental tests, NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster – Commercial (NEXT-C) is being prepared for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission, which will launch next year. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020031901
Lynk announced that it has successfully connected a satellite in low-Earth orbit to an ordinary mobile phone on Earth. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020031902
Spacecom, operator of the Amos satellite fleet, announces that Mr. Dan Zajicek has been appointed by the board of director’s as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer. His appointment officially begins on 1 April 2020. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020031903
Rocket: Falcon 9; Payload: Starlink; Date: 18 March 2020, 1216 UTC; Launch site: Kennedy Space Center, USA. The satellites were placed into their target orbits despite a malfunction of one of the rocket’s nine engines. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020031800
Berlin-based Exolaunch announced that the launch of a 3U cubesat, MeznSat, for the UAE Space Agency will be performed aboard a Soyuz-2 rocket. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020031801
China’s Xichang Satellite Launch Center Wednesday announced the development of a new positioning system that can greatly shorten the time searching for rocket debris. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020031802