Satellite Launch Business

A Chinese Long March 2C satellite launch vehicle successfully took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in Northwest China on Monday, 29 October 2018, lofting the China-France Oceanography Satellite (CFOSAT) as its primary payload as well as four Cubesats for Chinese New Space satellite manufacturer Spacety.

Belarus State University's BSUSat-1 was successfully launched by a Chinese Long March 2C satellite launch vehicle on Monday, 29 October 2018, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in Northwest China.

The UAE's KhalifaSat high-resolution Earth observation satellite was successfully launched into orbit on board a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) H-IIA satellite launch vehicle from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre at 13:08hrs Japanese time (08:08hrs UAE time) on Monday, 29 October 2018.

The Philippines' Diwata 2 remote sensing satellite was successfully launched into orbit on board a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) H-IIA satellite launch vehicle from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre on Monday, 29 October 2018.

Chinese New Space launch company LandSpace suffered a failure of the third stage of its Zhuque-1 satellite launch vehicle Saturday, 27 October 2018, as it attempted to become the first Chinese private launch company to reach orbit, according to Andrew Jones in Space News.

Spacety, a Chinese small satellite startup, is set to launch four CubeSats for a range of clients on a Long March 2C launch vehicle on Monday, 29 October 2018, according to GBTimes’Andrew Jones.

The Japanese New Space sector has never had it so good, though no one denies that there is much more to do. Investments are up, a robust ecosystem is emerging, and the Japanese government and large trading houses are now supportive of the sector: significant progress when compared to just a few years ago, according to a special report in the Financial Times.

Russian launch provider Eurokot has suggested that its Rokot-2 light launcher could resume service in 2021 now that the launch vehicle uses Russian-made control systems. The last Rokot-2 launch occurred in April 2018 using the last launcher that used Ukrainian-made control systems.

The Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) has announced that it is postponing the planned engine test of its Korean Space Launch Vehicle-II (KSLV-II) rocket engine after a pre-test check found a problem with the engine's propellant pressurization system.

Vietnamese and Japanese officials revealed last week that they expect the Vietnamese radar Earth observation satellite, LOTUSat-1, to be launched sometime in 2019 after years of regulatory and diplomatic delays.