Inmarsat orders three software-defined OneSat-class comsats from Airbus DS
As part of its follow-on to its original Global Xpress offering, the mobile communications services operator Inmarsat has ordered three new 3,000kg class satellites from Airbus Defence and Space (Airbus DS). The software defined high throughput Ka-band communications...
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Proton launches Yamal 601 comsat…but satellite has to use Plan B to raise itself to final orbit
A Proton M Breeze M (Briz M) launch vehicle successfully launched the Yamal 601 communications satellite into orbit on its way to a final geostationary operating position. However, the final orbit raising did not go as planned after a shut down of the S-400 apogee...
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Experienced spacewalking cosmonaut shows new boy the ropes…as they both salute the original
At 1542 GMT on 29 May 2019 the hatch of the Pirs module was opened for the start of a six hour one minute long spacewalk involving two Russian cosmonauts. With five spacewalks under his belt, Oleg Kononenko was well placed to show his fellow cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin...
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On a Lighter Note: Unwanted escapees in Apollo 10’s capsule led to a question of attribution
While the Apollo 10 lunar mission in May 1969 is often overlooked, it was the dress rehearsal for the main lunar landing. It involved hazardous rendez-vous docking and undocking operations, and lunar module descent and ascent engine firing tests in lunar orbit. The...
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Glonass M55S navsat is launched by Soyuz rocket struck by lightning
At 0623 GMT on 27 May 2019, a Soyuz 2.1B/Fregat M was launched from the Plesetsk launch site in Northern Russia. On board the launch was a Glonass M55S (Cosmos 2534) satellite as part of the Glonass navigation satellite constellation on its way to its operating...
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Theresa May resigns as UK Prime Minister…history may revise its opinion of her as PM if not as Home Secretary
Having finally lost the support of her own MPs, and the Conservative Party in general, as she tried to get her rejected "Brexit" deal with the EU though parliament for a fourth time, Theresa May has finally formally given in her notice to quit. She will no longer be...
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Falcon 9 launches first sixty satellites in SpaceX Starlink constellation…but four have faults
SpaceX has launched the first 60 satellites in its Starlink low Earth orbit constellation of communications satellites aimed at providing high bandwidth with low latency to mobile users on Earth. The launch, which had been delayed by over a week by upper level winds...
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Just One Month to go before the Seradata Space Conference
There is just a month to go to the Seradata Space Conference, Space Risks, Business and Insurance which takes place in London on 25 June 2019. We have put together a fantastic array of speakers who will inform, educate and entertain you. Our Headline Sessions include:...
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China suffers launch failure of Long March 4C rocket carrying Yaogan 33 radar sat
The Long March 4C launch of the Chinese Yaogan 33 satellite has ended in failure. The lift-off was at 2249 GMT on 22 May 2019 from the Taiyuan launch centre in China. Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, has reported that the failure occurred to the third stage, and that...
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Risat 2B is launched by PSLV
A PSLV rocket lifted off at one second past midnight on the morning of 22 May 2019 from the Sriharikota launch site in India. The PSLV-C46 flght was carrying the Risat 2B radar satellite carrying an X-band SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar). The satellite has been...
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