The Hackaday.com website has revealed that the in-orbit failure of the Russian Meteor 2M-2 (aka the Meteor M2-2) weather satellite is being blamed on a collision with either a piece of debris or micro-meteoroid. The spacecraft suddenly changed orbit and fell into a...
Two launches occurred on 7 January 2020, signalling the start of a new year of launches. The first launch was early in the day and lifted-off from Cape Canaveral, United States of America, at 0219 GMT. The second mission took place from the Xichang Satellite Launch...
The US Air Force X-37B mini-shuttle/reusable spacecraft not only broke its own mission duration record on its fifth flight, its unannounced release of unidentified spacecraft, if true, would make it illegal under international law, explains guest writer and...
China successfully launched the experimental communications satellite Shi Jian 20 on the reflight of the Long March 5 at 1245 GMT on 27 December. The launch took place from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre on Hainan Island, China. It placed a communications...
In a late year launch (Russian launches are often timed for the “Western” Christmas period) a Rockot/Breeze KM launch vehicle launched the Gonets M-14, M-15 and M-16 civilian “store-forward” communication satellites for JSC Gonets SatCom. The...
While the spacecraft had originally been planned to fly on a Zenit, Russia finally launched its Elektro-L No. 3 geostationary weather sat. It was launched by Proton-M/DM-03 from Baikonur near Tyuratam at 1203 GMT on 24 Dec 2019. At under two metric tons mass, the...
