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China launches two more Long March rockets; another possible before end of year
China’s space program is sprinting toward the end of the year by extending the country’s record-breaking launch rate, with two more space missions lifting off in the last week carrying a pathfinder for a planned constellation of Internet satellites and a mysterious payload heading for geostationary orbit. At least one more Long March rocket is set to lift off Saturday to close out 2018.
Military communications satellite launched by Russian Proton rocket
A Russian military communications satellite launched Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, riding a Proton rocket and Breeze M upper stage into orbit on just the second Proton flight this year, the lowest annual flight rate for Russia’s most powerful operational launcher since the 1960s.
Live coverage: GSLV Mk.2 lifts off with the GSAT 7A communications satellite
India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk.2 lifted off at 1040 GMT (5:40 a.m. EST; 4:10 p.m. Indian Standard Time) with the GSAT 7A communications satellite for the Indian Air Force. The rocket placed the spacecraft into a supersynchronous transfer orbit around 19 minutes after liftoff from Sriharikota on India’s east coast.
Ariane 5 launches India’s biggest satellite, South Korean weather observer
An Ariane 5 rocket fired off a launch pad in French Guiana Tuesday with nearly 3 million pounds of thundering thrust, heading to orbit with India’s heaviest satellite designed to expand broadband coverage across the South Asian nation, and a South Korean weather satellite carrying an U.S.-built imager to track storms and cyclones across the Asia-Pacific.