Tag: navigation
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Japan launches navigation satellite after week-long delay
Japan’s H-2A rocket lifts off Saturday from the Tanegashima Space Center. Credit: MHI A Japanese H-2A rocket soared away from a launch pad on a rocky overlook on the Pacific Ocean on Saturday, hauling into orbit the country’s third Michibiki satellite to join a constellation of navigation aids to improve positioning services across the country.…
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Japanese H-2A rocket launch rescheduled for Saturday
A photo of the H-2A rocket on the launch pad during a launch attempt Aug. 12. Credit: MHI A heavy-duty version of Japan’s H-2A rocket is now scheduled to lift off Saturday with a geostationary navigation satellite after a week-long delay to diagnose and resolve a leak in the rocket’s propulsion system, the Japanese space…
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H-2A rocket grounded by problem in propulsion system
The H-2A rocket topped with the Michibiki 3 navigation satellite awaits liftoff from a launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. Credit: JAXA A Japanese launch crew filled an H-2A rocket with cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants in time for a planned liftoff Saturday with a geostationary navigation satellite, but…
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German-British consortium wins deal to build eight more Galileo satellites
Artist’s illustration of Galileo navigation satellites in orbit. Credit: OHB Eight more satellites for Europe’s Galileo navigation fleet will be built by Germany’s OHB System AG and Britain’s Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. under a contract worth more than $350 million. The European Space Agency and the European Commission selected the same German-British industrial team that…
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Watch a replay of the launch of a Japanese navigation satellite
A Japanese H-2A rocket, carrying the Michibiki 2 navigation satellite, lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 0017:46 GMT Thursday (8:17:46 p.m. EDT Wednesday).
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Photos: Japan’s H-2A rocket prepared for launch with Michibiki 2
The second satellite in Japan’s regional space-based navigation constellation is set for launch Thursday aboard an H-2A rocket, and these photos show the hydrogen-fueled launcher’s preparations for liftoff, from stacking inside an assembly hangar at the Tanegashima Space Center through rollout to the launch pad. The two-stage, 174-foot-tall (53-meter) rocket is powered by hydrogen-fueled engines…
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SpaceX nabs GPS launch contract as Air Force opens more missions for bidding
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket launching from Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX The U.S. Air Force this week awarded SpaceX a contract to launch a Global Positioning System satellite in early 2019, concluding the second of as many as 15 competitions the military plans to run over the next year to pit SpaceX against…
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European engineers studying string of clock failures on Galileo navigation satellites
Artist’s concept of a Galileo satellite. Credit: OHB A wave of clock failures on Europe’s Galileo navigation satellites has not knocked any of the craft offline, but officials want to better understand the problem before launching more satellites into the fleet. Five of the 18 Galileo navigation craft currently in orbit have encountered clock anomalies,…
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Europe’s satellite navigation fleet gets big boost from Ariane 5 rocket
Europe’s Galileo navigation program turned to the workhorse Ariane 5 rocket for a heavy lift Thursday, delivering four new satellites to orbit on the launcher’s 75th successful flight in a row and pushing the growing fleet closer to global coverage. The four satellites, built in Germany with navigation payloads from Britain, arrived in an orbit…
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China lofts pulsar navigation demo satellite
A Long March 11 rocket blasts off from the Jiuquan space center at 2342 GMT (6:42 p.m. EST) Wednesday. Credit: CCTV China launched an innovative satellite Wednesday that will look for X-ray signals from pulsars, the fast-spinning super-dense remnants of collapsed stars, to determine its exact location in space. The experimental pulsar navigation mission carries…