News & Events

Skylo announced that the company has emerged from stealth mode with US$116 million in total funding. The company previously raised US$13 million in a Series A round that was co-led by DCM and Innovation Endeavors, and joined by Moore Strategic Ventures. The new Series B round raised US$103 million, led by SoftBank Group and joined…

China’s Chang Zheng-5B rocket has passed testing and examination before leaving the factory and is expected to make its maiden flight in the first half of 2020, according to the China Manned Space Agency. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020012000

Rocket Lab has announced that it will launch a dedicated mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The launch window is scheduled to open on 31 January NZDT (UTC +9:30 hours) and the mission, called ‘Birds of a Feather,’ will lift off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020012001

After the injection of GSAT-30 communication satellite into an elliptical Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) on 17 January 2020, all the three orbit raising manoeuvres have been completed successfully as planned using the satellite’s propulsion system. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020012002

HawkEye 360 Inc., the first commercial company to use formation flying satellites to create a new class of radio frequency (RF) data and analytics, announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with Airbus. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020012003

On 24 October 2019, Eutelsat announced an investigation into a malfunction on one of the two solar arrays on its Eutelsat 5 West B satellite. Pursuant to this investigation, the loss of the satellite’s South solar array has been confirmed. With the exception of the South solar array, the satellite performance remains nominal. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020011900

NASA and SpaceX completed a launch escape demonstration of the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket Sunday. This was the final major flight test of the spacecraft before it begins carrying astronauts to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020011901

Iran said that two newly constructed satellites have passed pre-launch tests and will be transported to the nation’s space centre for eventual launch, without elaborating. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020011902

Rocket: Ariane 5 ECA; Payload: Eutelsat KONNECT, GSAT-30; Date: 16 January 2020, 2105 UTC; Launch site: Kourou, French Guiana. The two satellites were deployed into geostationary transfer orbit as planned. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020011600

Rocket: Kuaizhou-1A (KZ-1A); Payload: Yinhe-1 (GS-SparkSat-03); Date: 16 January 2020, 0302 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. The satellite, the first one of Beijing-based GalaxySpace, was sent into its planned orbit of 621 km x 637 km x 86.40 degrees. http://www.sat-nd.com/archive/?id=2020011601