Ariane 5 ECA successfully launches TIBA-1 and Inmarsat 5-F5 communications satellites
After suffering a weather delay and delays involving a power supply anomaly in ground systems, Ariane 5 ECA finally launched the TIBA-1 and Inmarsat 5-F5 (aka GX 5) communications satellites into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) at 2123 GMT on 26 November from...
Plesetsk witnesses launch of Cosmos situational awareness satellite using Soyuz 1-v rocket
The Plesetsk launch site in Northern Russia was the location from where a Russian military "space situational awareness" satellite was launched from. The launch by a Soyuz 2-1v rocket occurred at 1752 GMT on 25 November 2019. The spacecraft dubbed Cosmos 2542...
Second dual Beidou launch of the year is success but Long March rocket stage hits building
A Long March 3B/YZ-1 (CZ-3B/YZ-1) rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, South-western China, on 23 November, at 00.55 GMT. The mission is to aid the Chinese satellite navigation system, Beidou – Compass in English. On board the rocket were two...
UK General Election 2019: Manifestos contain plenty of spending pledges but few for space
With the UK General Election imminent, all the major parties have revealed their manifesto promises. The smaller parties – the SNP, Plaid Cymru, Brexit Party etc – do have some distinguishing features, but in this analysis we will stick mainly to the “big four”. The...
SpaceX Starship Mk.1 suffers spectacular tank failure during pressure test
Officially it is not a blow to SpaceX, given that its Starship Mk.1 suborbital hopping test rocket was not going to fly again, but the tank failure on the spacecraft/upper stage during a deliberate over-pressurisation test on on 20 November still made a spectacular...
Arianespace signs up Measat 3d for Ariane 5 launch
Arianespace and the Malaysian regional satellite operator MEASAT Global Berhad (MEASAT) have signed a launch agreement for an Ariane 5 ECA launch of the communications satellite MEASAT-3d. MEASAT-3d,will be launched into geostationary transfer orbit on its way to its...
EchoStar orders two small satellites
Having acquired the start-up Helios Wire low Earth orbit "Internet of Things" (IoT) constellation outfit, satellite operator EchoStar has ordered two S-band test IoT communications satellites from CubeSat manufacturer Tyvak. The acquisition of Helios Wire has allowed...
Spacewalkers start major instrument repairs on ISS Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer…as three CubeSats are ejected
While the overall International Space Station (ISS) is so large that an individual science instrument is relatively insignificant - such was the importance of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 (AMS-2) - worth US$2 billion - that a series of spacewalk repairs was...
Second Kuaizhou-1A rocket in four days launched from China carrying smallsats into orbit (Updated)
A launch occurred at 1000 GMT, 17 November 2019, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, North China. This mission saw the Kuaizhou-1A light-launcher carrying two small satellites built by the Small Satellite Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). On-board...
Rispace 2019 Belfast: Upper stage delivery systems try to turn shared launches into dedicated delivery service
The history of the troubles in Northern Ireland is a long and bitter one - and that bitterness continues given that walls - figurative and actual - still exist between the Protestant Unionist community and the rapidly growing (due to its higher birthrate) Catholic...
