Monthly Archives: September 2014

On Sunday night at 11:22pm EDT, a Chinese Long March 4B satellite lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. This marks the second Chinese launch in the month of September and was, like the first launch, not publicly announced until after its completion.

The Chinese news outlet Xinhua reports that the rocket was carrying two satellites. Both satellites were placed into sun-synchronous orbit.

The first was the Yaogan-21 remote sensing satellite. According to the Xinhua and Chinese government, this satellite is intended to be used for scientific experiments, natural resource survey, estimation of crop yield and disaster relief.

The second satellite is the Tiantuo-2, a small 67kg satellite which is equipped with four video cameras and is able to track and record moving targets in real time. Its reported primary purpose is to be used with a system thats capable of tracking the location of ships at sea.

However, according to space industry analyst Bill Ostrove, the purpose of both of these satellites is widely believed by Western sources to be spy satellites aimed at providing intelligence to the Chinese military.

This is the second announced launch of the Long March 4B rocket since one experienced a third stage failure in December of 2013. That rocket was carrying the CBERS-3 satellite, which was part of a series of Earth imaging satellites as part of a joint project between China and Brazil. The next satellite in the series, CBERS-4, is tentatively scheduled for launch in December 2014.

To see what has launched and whats planned to launch this month, please see ourSeptember launch schedule.

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China Launches Two More Satellites Into Orbit

Virgin's SpaceShip2 in flight (Credit: MarsScientific.com and Clay Center Observatory)

NASA announced on Monday that it has awarded four American suborbital space companies to carry payloads to the boundary of space.

According to NASA, each of the four selected companies will receive an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for integration and flight services. The contracts are worth a minimum of $100,000, have a duration of three years and include two year extension options.

The four companies selected for the contracts are:

Virgin Galactic, which is best known for developing its space tourism business with its SpaceShipTwo craft. However, in addition to carrying passengers, the company is also actively working to offer the use SpaceShipTwo for scientific research. The company is also developing LauncherOne, which will aim to deliver small satellites into orbit.

Masten Space Systems, which is working to develop vertical takeoff, vertical landing unmanned spacecraft. The company is probably most famous for winning the $1 million Lunar Lander X-Prize in 2009. It was also recently awarded a contract from DARPA to work on developing a reusable spaceplane.

UP Aerospace, which focuses on developing suborbital rockets for the delivery of research payloads. The company most recently launched a suborbital rocket for NASA in November of 2013, and its next launch is scheduled for October 7, 2014.

Paragon Space Development Corporation, which has developed hardware for over 70 space flight missions. Paragon is partnered with another company, World View Experience, which aims to use balloons to take commercial passengers to the edge of space about 120,000 feet above the surface.

Weve made tremendous progress in working toward the goal of regular, frequent and predictable access to near-space at a reasonable cost with easy recovery of intact payloads, NASAs Michael Gazarik said in a press release. These proven flight service providers will allow for payloads from organizations including NASA, industry, academia, and other government agencies to be tested on flights to the edge of space before being committed to demonstration in the harsh environment of space itself.

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NASA Awards Contracts To Virgin Galactic And Other Suborbital Providers

An Ariane 5 rocket in flight. (Credit: Arianespace)

Today, European commercial launch provider Arianespace has announced that it has signed four new commercial launch contracts. This marks an impressive 11 launch contracts signed so far this year for the company, with two current contracts under negotiation to be completed by the years end.

According to the company, these four contracts bring Arianespaces total launch backlog to 38 satellite launches for 29 different customers. The value of these combined orders exceeds $5.82 billion. The company claims to now hold 60% of commercial launch market.

All four launches satellites are between 3,300 and 3,500kg and will be launched by an Ariane 5 rocket with other, heavier satellites, whose launches are already on the books. The Ariane 5 is capable of delivering 10,000kg of payload to geosynchronous transfer orbit, over twice as much as its competitor SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket. This ability to lift two larger satellites at once helps the company stay competitive with other providers.

Dual manifesting allows Arianespace to be very competitive on price, a company spokesperson told me. It is part of our business model.

The Optus 10 satellite being prepped for launch at Arianespaces launch center. (Credit: Arianespace)

In 2016, Arianespace will be launching communications satellite JCSAT-1 for its customer SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation. The satellite will be used to broadcast TV signals for its customers. This will be the 29th satellite that Arianespace has launched for SKY Perfect since 1989.

For Korean satellite communications provider, KTSat, Arianespace will be launching Koreasat 7. This satellite, to be launched in 2016, will provide communications services to customers in Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and India. This will mark the third KTSat launch performed by Arianespace.

In 2017, Arianespace will be launching the telecommunications satellite Hylas 4 on behalf of its customer, the London-based Avanti Communications. Hylas 4 will be builtd by Orbital Sciences and will provide TV and data services to Africa, Europe and Latin America.

During the third quarter of 2016, Arianespace will launch IntelSat 36 on behalf of telecommunications service provider Intelsat. This will be the 55th satellite that Arianespace has launched for Intelsat. The satellite will deliver data services to customers in Asia and Africa.

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Europe's Arianespace Claims 60% Of The Commercial Launch Market