Russia&CIS

Arianespace is preparing its sixth launch of 2018 as it plans to orbit Azerbaijan's Azerspace-2/Intelsat-38 telecommunications satellite on board an Ariane-5 launch vehicle from the Guiana Space Center (CSG) in South America. The launch, planned for 25 September 2018, also includes the Horizons-3e communications satellite for Intelsat and its partner SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation.

The governments of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are considering the joint construction and operation of a communications satellite, and are also looking at proposing a Central Asian Earth observation satellite constellation consisting of five satellites.

Azerbaijan's national space agency, AzerCosmos, will soon start selling satellite imagery taken by its AzerSky Earth observation satellite, as well as imagery taken by the Pléiades-1A and 1B satellites, according to a source in AzerCosmos reported by Azerbaijani news outlet Trend.

The First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Askar Mamin, has discussed the implementation of the joint Baiterek project in Moscow with the Director General of the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, Dmitry Rogozin, the press service of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan said in a statement on 17 September 2018, according to a TASS report.

Firefly is well and truly ignited again. A new formation of the company with solid investors behind it is now paving the way for what has the potential to be a very successful business. International asset management firm, Noosphere Ventures, as lead investor, is set to take Firefly to the next level and beyond with an evolutionary strategy and approach that sees the development two launch vehicles to satisfy the full breadth of the dedicated small satellite launch market and for broader in-space applications as well.

The AngoSat-2 satellite is to be developed by Russia for Angola to replace the failed AngoSat-1 satellite.

Gazprom Space Systems, a Russian international satellite operator, and Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., the Israeli satellite networking technology, solutions, and services company, signed a contract with an estimated value of U.S.$18 million, to provide broadband connectivity across Russia.

An air leak alert at the International Space Station was registered by the ground crews at about 2:00 am on Thursday, August 30.

SpaceWatch.Global last spoke to Gernot Groemer, Founder and Administrative Director of the Austrian Space Forum last year when we covered the Forum’s work and activities on the Mars Analogue missions.

The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center has signed contracts for the production of 12 Angara-A5 heavy-lift launch vehicles.