Tag Archives: Satellite Launch

Chinese New Space satellite launch company LandSpace Technology announced on 20 November 2018 that it has received 300 million Yuan (U.S.$43 million) in a just-completed Series B funding round, according to Chinese news platform Weixin.

It has been a busy few weeks in the Middle Eastern satellite and space sector, with developments and activities taking place from Morocco to Iran, and all points in between. The following is a roundup of the regional space and satellite news that was not previously covered in-depth by SpaceWatch.MiddleEast.

SpaceX successfully launched the Es’hail-2 satellite for Qatar’s Es’hailsat on Thursday, 15 November 2018, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, United States. Liftoff occurred at 3:46 p.m. EST, or 20:46 UTC, and the satellite was deployed to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) about 32 minutes after launch.

U.S. New Space launch provider Rocket Lab has closed a Series E financing round of U.S.$140 million. The funding round closed last month, prior to the launch of the successful mission ‘It’s Business Time,’ and was led by existing investor Future Fund, with strong participation from current investors including Greenspring Associates, Khosla Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, DCVC (Data Collective), Promus Ventures and K1W1.

Morocco's Mohammed VI-B high-resolution Earth observation satellite is expected to be launched on an Arianespace launch vehicle from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana on 20 November 2018, on board an Arianespace Vega satellite launch vehicle, with the mission dubbed by Arianespace as Vega Flight VV13.

South Korean government agencies and universities have five payloads on board the upcoming SpaceX Falcon-9 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, United States. The launch is currently scheduled for 19 November 2018, and will loft approximately 60 satellites from numerous countries and companies.

ICEYE, the Finnish Earth observation company creating the world's largest synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, confirmed on 8 November 2018 that it is launching the company's second SAR satellite, ICEYE-X2, into low Earth orbit on Spaceflight's SSO-A: SmallSat Express mission.

Fleet Space Technologies' first two satellites, Proxima I and II, were launched on 11 November 2018 on-board Rocket Lab's manifest, It's Business Time. This launch marks Australia's first ever commercial CubeSats in orbit.

Rocket Lab has continued the success of its 2018 orbital launch program with the launch of seven payloads to orbit on 11 November 2018. The mission, named ‘It’s Business Time,’ marks Rocket Lab’s second successful orbital launch and deployment of customer satellites.

Spaceflight, a satellite rideshare and mission management company, has announced that it will launch twelve satellites on board an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) later in November 2018, to include a satellite for Australian New Space company Fleet Space Technologies, who are having two satellites launched this coming week from New Zealand by Rocket Lab.