Tag: Dnepr
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GRACE satellites to end research mission in November, before replacements launch
Artist’s concept of the GRACE satellites in orbit. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Two U.S.-German satellites launched more than 15 years ago to measure Earth’s changing gravity field will stop collecting data in November, a few months before a pair of replacement craft will launch to resume gravity measurements, NASA officials said. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment,…
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Iridium to share Falcon 9 launch with NASA-German gravity satellites
The first 10 Iridium Next satellites launched Jan. 14 on a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: SpaceX Iridium has secured a launch for five more of its next-generation communications craft in a rideshare arrangement with two U.S.-German research satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket by early 2018. The announcement…
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With Russian launch grounded, Iridium flips order of satellite deployments
Artist’s concept of an Iridium Next satellite. Credit: Iridium Stymied by Russian government dithering that has indefinitely grounded a test launch on a modified Soviet-era missile, Iridium officials say that SpaceX agreed to move forward to July the first of seven Falcon 9 launches from California with the company’s next-generation mobile communications satellites. Iridium originally…
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Radio bug to keep new Iridium satellites grounded until April
Artist’s concept of an Iridium Next satellite. Credit: Thales Alenia Space 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. The announcement Oct. 29 means Iridium will miss a long-targeted timetable to…
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South Korean satellite launched by Dnepr rocket
A stockpiled Soviet-era ballistic missile shot out of an underground silo on a remote Russian military base Wednesday and powered into orbit with a South Korean Earth observation satellite. South Korea’s Kompsat 3A imaging satellite rode the 111-foot-tall Dnepr launcher on a 15-minute journey into space after liftoff at 2208:46 GMT (6:08:46 p.m. EDT) from…
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Customers assured of Dnepr rocket’s near-term availability
File photo of a Dnepr rocket launch. Credit: ESA/S. Corvaja Flights of the Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr rocket are expected to continue this year despite proclamations the satellite launcher program is suspended, officials said this week. The light-class Dnepr rocket, which has found a niche in launching flocks of small satellites, is derived from the R-36M missile…
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Japanese satellites launched on Soviet-era missile
A decommissioned Soviet-era ballistic missile — adapted for space launches instead of nuclear war — rocketed out of an underground silo and sent five Japanese Earth observing satellites into orbit Thursday. The 111-foot-tall Dnepr rocket fired out of a missile silo at the Dombarovsky military base in southern Russia at 0735 GMT (2:35 a.m. EST;…