On 31 May 2020, China completed the launch of a sub-meter Earth imaging satellite, plus co-payload. The satellites were orbited by an Long March 2D/2, medium launch vehicle from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Northern China. The primary payload was the Gaofen-9...
China has very much got its launch programme underway again after delays caused by the coronavirus outbreak and launch vehicle failures. The latest launch was of a Long March 11 launch vehicle which used the Xichang launch site for the first time. The launch, which...
Russia launched the Cosmos 2546 satellite into a highly elliptical Earth orbit at 0731 GMT using a Soyuz 2-1B/Fregat M launch vehicle from Pad 43/4 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia. Cosmos 2546 is also known as Tundra 4, Kupol No. 4 and EKS 4. The...
The very competitive offer to launch 200 kg of ride-share payloads into orbit for just US$1 million plus any extra at the same US$5,000 per kg rate – about half that of a competitive dedicated small launch vehicle – is beginning to show benefits for...
On 20 May 2020, at 1731 GMT, the last planned launch of the MHI-built, H-2B variant took place. The mission lifted-off from the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan, carrying the HTV-9 cargo freighter into LEO. The HTV (H-II Transfer Vehicle) is part of Japan’s...
American satellite manufacturer Northrop Grumman received an awaited order for two polar orbit Next-Gen OPIR satellites on 18 May. The contract is valued at US$2.37 billion. The Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-gen OPIR) satellites will provide...
