Tag: Telecom
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Citing SpaceX delays, Inmarsat moves satellite launch from Falcon Heavy to Ariane 5
File photo of an Ariane 5 launch in August 2015. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – P. Piron The launch next year of a commercial communications craft jointly managed by London-based Inmarsat and the Greek satellite operator Hellas-Sat has been switched from SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket, officials said…
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Photos: Delta 4 launch views from KSC press site
A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday night with the U.S. Air Force’s eighth Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite, lighting up the sky in these images taken from the nearby Kennedy Space Center press site. The Delta 4 launched at 6:53 p.m. EST (2353 GMT) from Complex 37B…
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SpaceX sets Dec. 16 for first flight since launch pad explosion
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket rolling to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg. Credit: SpaceX The first 10 satellites in Iridium’s next-generation mobile voice and data network could head into orbit from California as soon as Dec. 16 on SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 flight since a booster exploded on…
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China launches data relay satellite for future space station crews
A Long March 3C/G2 rocket lifted off with the fourth Tianlian 1 data relay satellite Tuesday. Credit: Xinhua China added a fourth craft Tuesday to a network of geostationary data relay satellites tasked with keeping mission control in steady contact with Shenzhou crew capsules and a planned space station. The new satellite is the fourth…
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ULA moves to fill openings in Atlas 5 launch manifest
File photo of an Atlas 5 launch. Credit: NASA/Tony Gray & Kevin O’Connell With U.S. military demand waning in coming years, United Launch Alliance has multiple openings in its Atlas 5 launch manifest in 2017 and 2018 available to commercial customers with as little as three months’ notice, according to company officials. Commercial satellite operators…
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SES agrees to launch satellite on ‘flight-proven’ Falcon 9 rocket
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket launch. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX and SES, an international communications satellite operator based in Luxembourg, have agreed to place the SES 10 television relay craft aboard the first launch of a reused “flight-proven” Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral as soon as October, the companies announced Tuesday. The agreement…
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China’s first mobile telecom satellite successfully launched
A Long March 3B rocket took off at 1622 GMT (12:22 p.m. EDT) Friday with the Tiantong 1 satellite. Credit: Xinhua China sent a mobile communications satellite into orbit Friday on top of a Long March 3B rocket, marking the country’s 10th launch of 2016 as technicians gear up for the next flight of Chinese…
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First two Iridium Next satellites shipped to Vandenberg
Technicians load the first two Iridium Next satellites into their shipping containers at Orbital ATK’s manufacturing facility in Gilbert, Arizona. Credit: Iridium The first two next-generation Iridium satellites, designed to connect global subscribers with data and voice traffic, arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base on Tuesday, where they will join eight more message relay craft…
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Iridium satellites rolling off assembly line in Arizona
The first two fully-complete Iridium Next satellites. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now Construction is complete on the first batch of 81 new satellites to overhaul Iridium’s mobile communications network, and the data relay stations will soon head from their factory near Phoenix to California’s hilly Central Coast for launch in September on a SpaceX Falcon 9…
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Ride aboard the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage on descent
Take a virtual trip from space back to planet Earth with an sped up video clip showing the eye-popping on-board views from the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster Friday as it plummeted back to Earth, opened aerodynamic steering fins and fired its engines for a final braking maneuver just before touchdown. The 156-foot-tall booster…