satellites Archives - Defence Monitor

05 Jul

US’ Firefly Aerospace rocket launches 8 small satellites for NASA

New Delhi, July 5 (IANS) American private aerospace firm Firefly Aerospace has successfully launched its Alpha Flight 5 (FLTA005) rocket, which carried eight CubeSat for NASA. The mission, part of NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative(CSLI), lifted off aboard the Alpha rocket, named "Noise of Summer" from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 9.04 p.m. PDT (9.34 a.m. IST). Following payload deployment, Firefly successfully performed a second stage relight and plane change manoeuvre to further test and validate Alpha's on-orbit capabilities, the company said. Firefly Aerospace is a NASA vendor for both launch and lunar services. "The…

27 Apr

Iran to launch 6 satellites by March 2024

Tehran, April 26 (IANS) Iranian Deputy Defence Minister Amir Rastegari announced that the country is preparing six satellites to be launched by March 2024. Rastegari made the remarks in an interview with the semi-official Tasnim news agency, which was published on Tuesday. He said preparations were being made to launch an Iranian satellite constellation, expressing hope that IEI would be able to put into low Earth orbit two CubeSats and the homegrown Earth observation satellite Tolou-3 by March 2024, reports Xinhua news agency. With a weight of 150 kg, Tolou-3 is Iran's first miniature satellite. It is capable of taking black-and-white…

25 Jan

SpaceX ridesharing mission launches record 143 satellites

San Francisco: Much like ridesharing via Uber on Earth, Elon Musk-run SpaceX has successfully launched its new cost-cutting rideshare mission with 143 small satellites -- a new record for a single rocket -- into space.Called the Transporter-1 mission, the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket lifted off on Sunday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. "Falcon 9 launches 143 spacecraft to orbit -- the most ever deployed on a single mission -- completing SpaceX's first dedicated SmallSat Rideshare Programme mission," SpaceX said in a tweet. According to SpaceX, the rideshare programme offers cheap access to space for small satellite companies,…

03 Nov

Mixed payload satellites may have prompted ISRO to use generic names

Chennai: With Indian satellites sporting mixed payloads for varied users perhaps the space agency has decided to opt for a generic name for its earth observation satellites, said a satellite expert.He also added that satellite names should not be changed prior to the launch as it may result in problems at a later stage. Recently, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) decided to change the name of its radar imaging satellite RISAT-2BR2 as EOS-01 standing for Earth Observation Satellite-01.Till date ISRO has not officially told the nation that RISAT-2BR2 has been renamed as EOS-01 and the reasons for the same. "Nowadays satellites…

02 Jan

India’s second spaceport to be in TN’s Thoothukdi: ISRO

Bengaluru: India's second spaceport for launching small satellites would be located in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi district, ISRO chief K. Sivan said on Wednesday. "The Tamil Nadu government has begun acquiring about 2,300 acres of land in Thoothukudi district for our second satellite launch port, ideally located for launching smaller satellites in the earth's lower orbit," the Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman told reporters here.Thoothukudi is about 600 km southeast of Chennai.The country's first spaceport is at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 90 km northeast of Chennai. "The new location is ideal for launching smaller satellites of less than 500kg in the…

11 Dec

India’s foreign satellite launch count touches 319

Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh): India on Wednesday successfully placed into orbit its latest radar imaging earth observation satellite RISAT-2BR1 and nine foreign satellites from four countries using its PSLV rocket.In the process, India touched 319 foreign satellite launch mark ever since 1999. Declaring this will be the last rocket mission of ISRO for 2019, its chief K. Sivan said in 2020, there will be the maiden launch mission of new rocket Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) and other rockets. India's latest radar imaging earth observation satellite RISAT-2BR1 now up in the sky will send sharp clarity images for surveillance, agriculture, forestry and…

26 Nov

Countdown for the launch of India’s Cartosat-3 satellite in progress

Chennai: The 26-hour countdown for the launch of Indian rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-XL (PSLV-XL) with 14 satellites began on Tuesday morning at India's rocket port at the Sriharikota rocket port in Andhra Pradesh, Indian space agency said.According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the countdown for the launch of PSLV-XL rocket carrying India's Cartosat-3 and 13 nanosatellites from the US began at 7.28 a.m. The rocket is scheduled to blast off from the second launch pad at 9.28 a.m. on Wednesday.While the main luggage will be India's 1,625 kg Cartosat-3 satellite, 13 nanosatellites from the US will be sharing the…

21 Apr

India’s ASAT can render enemy ‘deaf and blind’

India’s Anti-Satellite (ASAT) test conducted on March 27 provides the ability to render an enemy country ‘deaf and blind’ by targetting military and surveillance satellites.A missile fired by the DRDO hit the targeted defunct Indian satellite which was moving at more than 10.000 kms per hour at low earth orbit – some 350 kms above earth. The key was to hit the fast-moving satellite. It’s like hitting a small invisible dot in sky. The low earth orbit – some 300 to 600 kms above earth -- is one of tiers of space satellites and usually has the spy and military…

27 Feb

ISRO to launch defence satellite in March for DRDO

Chennai: In a special mission in March, the Indian space agency will launch an electronic intelligence satellite Emisat for the DRDO, 28 third party satellites and also demonstrate its new technologies like three different orbits with a new variant of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket, said a top official. The exact date has not been specified yet."It is a special mission for us. We will be using a PSLV rocket with four strap-on motors. Further, for the first time we will be trying to orbit the rocket at three different altitudes," K. Sivan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told.…

16 Sep

India to resume satellite launches by December

Bengaluru: India will resume launching satellites in November or December, unfazed by the failure of its rocket in deploying a spare navigation satellite in the Earth's lower orbit on August 31, said a top official on Friday. "We will resume the launches by November or December, with one of the remote sensing satellites though we are yet to finalise with which," said A.S. Kiran Kumar, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The state-run space agency will schedule its next launch mission after a committee studying the cause of the failure submits its report soon. "We have identified what the problem is…