Telecom – Page 95 – Spaceflight Now

Radio bug to keep new Iridium satellites grounded until April

November 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

The first launch for Iridium’s next-generation mobile communications fleet has been pushed back four months — from December until April — to resolve a technical problem inside the spacecraft’s Ka-band communications payload.

Photos: Ariane 5 counting down to liftoff

November 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

Launch crews rolled out a nearly 180-foot-tall Ariane 5 rocket to its launch pad Monday in a final major step before liftoff with the Arabsat 6B and GSAT 15 communications satellites to broadcast television, broadband and other telecom services across Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and India.

Live coverage: Ariane 5 soars into space from Kourou

November 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

An Ariane 5 rocket launched Tuesday with the Arabsat 6B and GSAT 15 communications satellites to broadcast television across the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia and link India with telecom and navigation services. Liftoff from Kourou, French Guiana, occurred at 2134 GMT (4:34 p.m. EST).

Launch managers sign off on final Ariane 5 flight of 2015

November 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

A launch readiness review Friday cleared an Ariane 5 rocket for liftoff Tuesday with two communications satellites for Arabsat and India, the first three missions from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana scheduled in less than 40 days.

Planning for December Falcon 9 launch, Orbcomm ships satellites

November 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

The first shipment of Orbcomm’s 11-satellite payload for the Falcon 9 rocket’s first flight since a June launch failure has arrived at Cape Canaveral, and the rest of the spacecraft will reach the Florida spaceport in the coming days, Orbcomm officials said Thursday.

Military communications craft likely aboard Chinese launch

November 3, 2015 Stephen Clark

A Chinese Long March 3B rocket lifted off Tuesday from the country’s Xichang space base, heading into orbit with a secretive payload believed by Western observers to be a military communications satellite.

ULA’s Atlas 5 wins contract to launch NASA data relay satellite

October 30, 2015 Stephen Clark

The last of NASA’s current-generation tracking and data relay satellites designed to link mission control with the International Space Station has been assigned for launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in October 2017, officials announced Friday.

Eutelsat goes for rare dedicated Ariane 5 launch

October 29, 2015 Stephen Clark

Paris-based satellite operator Eutelsat plans to launch a spacecraft for video broadcasting and broadband connectivity over Latin America aboard a dedicated Ariane 5 rocket in early 2016, several months earlier than planned, on a rare commercial single-payload flight of the workhorse launcher, Eutelsat’s chief executive said Wednesday.

Imagery from Friday’s fiery Proton rocket launch

October 19, 2015 Stephen Clark

Turkey’s newest communications satellite soared into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Friday, and these spectacular images show the middle-of-the-night liftoff of the spacecraft’s Russian Proton rocket booster before it disappeared into low clouds.

Orbcomm first in Falcon 9’s return-to-flight launch queue

October 18, 2015 Stephen Clark

Going with a philosophy that favors incremental testing of an upgraded version of the Falcon 9 booster, SpaceX officials said Friday that eleven mini-satellites for Orbcomm’s data relay business will fly on the company’s first mission since a launch failure in June.