March 2018 – Page 4 – Spaceflight Now

Photos: Soyuz rocket soars into space from French Guiana

March 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

A Soyuz rocket launched Friday with four commercial satellites to expand broadband Internet coverage in remote parts of the world, climbing into orbit from the Guiana Space Center positioned on the northeastern shore of South America.

New NOAA weather satellite reaches geostationary orbit

March 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

Less than two weeks after its launch from Cape Canaveral, a new NOAA weather observatory has boosted itself into a circular orbit more than 22,000 miles over the equator, and officials have renamed it GOES-17 ahead of a test series before it enters service later this year.

Robert Lightfoot, NASA’s longest-serving interim administrator, to retire

March 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot, a rocket propulsion engineer and career civil servant who has led the space agency since the beginning of the Trump administration, said Monday he will retire from the space agency at the end of April.

SpaceX’s most recent launch carried a secret military-funded experiment

March 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

A previously-undisclosed payload funded by a U.S. military research agency rode into orbit with a Spanish communications satellite on SpaceX’s most recent Falcon 9 rocket launch March 6, officials said Friday.

Four O3b satellites launched to beam Internet to developing world

March 9, 2018 Stephen Clark

Four satellites set to join O3b’s expanding broadband network successfully launched Friday on top of a Russian-built Soyuz booster from French Guiana, joining 12 other craft linking developing nations, far-flung islands, cruise ships and other hard-to-reach locales with the Internet.

Video: Replay of Soyuz takeoff with four O3b broadband satellites

March 9, 2018 Stephen Clark

A Russian Soyuz rocket lifted off Friday from French Guiana with four broadband satellites for the O3b network, which provides high-speed connectivity to developing countries, ships and other customers who lack a reliable Internet link.

Eutelsat plans satellite to assess potential for low-altitude constellation

March 9, 2018 Stephen Clark

Joining other established commercial geostationary satellite operators looking at fleets of communications platforms in low Earth orbit, Eutelsat announced Thursday it will launch a small testbed next year as a precursor to a potential network of data relay craft flying a few hundred miles above the planet.

Month: March 2018

Photos: Soyuz rocket soars into space from French Guiana

New NOAA weather satellite reaches geostationary orbit

Robert Lightfoot, NASA’s longest-serving interim administrator, to retire

SpaceX’s most recent launch carried a secret military-funded experiment

Four O3b satellites launched to beam Internet to developing world

Video: Replay of Soyuz takeoff with four O3b broadband satellites

Eutelsat plans satellite to assess potential for low-altitude constellation

Live coverage: Soyuz rocket lifts off with four O3b broadband satellites

Europe’s ExoMars orbiter nears start of methane-sniffing science mission

Photos: Falcon 9 rocket lights up the night with launch for Hispasat