An Arianespace medium-lift Soyuz launch vehicle transported the French CSO-1 reconnaissance satellite safely to orbit on 19 December 2018. This marked the third flight of Arianespace’s Soyuz and the launch was performed for France’s CNES (Centre national d'études spatiales) space agency and the DGA (Direction générale de l’armement) defence procurement agency, on behalf of the French Ministry of Defence.
Read More »Italy’s E-GEOS Signs Deal With St. Lucia To Provide Geospatial Early Warning System
e-GEOS, the geospatial information company that is a joint venture of Telespazio and the Italian Space Agency, has signed a contract with the Government of St. Lucia in the Caribbean for the provision of COSMO-SkyMed satellite data as part of an Early Warning System to help manage emergencies resulting from severe weather.
Read More »Indian Military Space: ISRO Successfully Launches GSAT-7A Communications Satellite For Indian Air Force
An Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F11) successfully launched the GSAT-7A military communication satellite from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, India, on 19 December 2018.
Read More »HyperScout Demonstrates That Satellite Imagery Can Be Processed In Space
HyperScout-1, the first miniaturized hyperspectral imager for space, successfully demonstrated that it is possible to process the images that are gathered by a satellite on board. By knowing the position of the satellite and in which direction it points, the instrument knows what it is looking at and can interpret the data, thus eliminating the need to download the data.
Read More »UK-Based Celestia Technologies Inks Significant ESA Contract
In order to provide for the new wave of mega Ka-band satellite constellations, Celestia Technologies of Harwell, UK, has signed an €8m contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the development of next generation Gateway ground stations.
Read More »Israel’s SpaceIL And IAI Complete Beresheet Lunar Lander; Launch Expected February 2019
Israeli not-for-profit SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) completed the construction of the SpaceIL lunar lander and, in a ceremony at IAI facilities prior to being shipped to Cape Canaveral, placed a time capsule on board the spacecraft that will stay on the Moon indefinitely.
Read More »Russia To Decommission Rokot SLV And Make Only One Launch From Vostochny in 2019
The last two launches of the Rokot satellite launch vehicle fitted with a Ukrainian-made control system will be carried out in 2019, after which the vehicle will be decommissioned, a source in the Russian space industry told Russian news outlet Sputnik on 18 December 2018.
Read More »British Military Space: Warfare In Space Domain Part Of UK Modernising Defence Programme Review
In an announcement made to the British Parliament on 18 December 2018, UK Secretary of State for Defence Gavin Williamson announced that a wide-ranging review of defence policy and capabilities that aims to prepare British armed forces for 21st Century warfare with peer powers is about to be concluded
Read More »Singapore’s Astroscale Meets With GK Launch Services To Discuss ELSA-d Launch
GK Launch Services, a subsidiary of Glavkosmos, Lavochkin Association, and Astroscale Japan Inc. held a kick-off meeting in Moscow on 12 December 2018 under the agreement on launch services for the Astroscale End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) satellite.
Read More »Sweden’s Ovzon Selects SSL For First GEO Mobile Broadband Satellite
Space Systems Loral (SSL), a subsidiary of Maxar Technologies, will build Ovzon’s first GEO satellite, Ovzon-3, that will significantly increase the performance and coverage area of its existing service.
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