Paul Damphousse

RESTON, Va. (SES PR) – The U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao has appointed SES Government Solutions’ Senior Director of Business Development Paul E. Damphousse to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC), SES announced today.

The COMSTAC provides executive-level observations, findings and recommendations to the FAA Administrator regarding critical issues within the commercial space industry. Damphousse will serve as a senior industry representative and member of COMSTAC on behalf of SES GS, wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, and will advise the government during bi-annual COMSTAC meetings and through participation on the COMSTAC working groups.

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SINGAPORE (mu Space PR) — mu Space Corp, a Thailand-based space and satellite company, has approved the release of a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a manufacturer to build the company’s first satellite with coverage spanning across Asia-Pacific. The high throughput satellite will be on a geostationary orbit (GEO) location at 50.5-degree East, an orbital slot secured on a recent agreement between mu Space and SES, the world’s leading satellite […]

CC grant allows SES to super charge the O3b system, the only operational non-geostationary broadband constellation and the world’s first global multi-terabit satellite network

LUXEMBOURG, 8 June 2018 (SES PR) — SES announced today that it has been granted, by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), authorization to serve the U.S. market using a significantly expanded O3b fleet in the Medium Earth Orbit (MEO).

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At least 10 launches are planned worldwide this month. The launches include crew and cargo missions to the International Space Station and the first commercial flight of Rocket Lab’s Electron booster. Orbital ATK’s Pegasus XL will launch NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) from the Marshall Islands on June 14. China got June off to a successful start on Saturday with the launch of the Gaofen-6 remote sensing satellite aboard a […]

ISS with Soyuz and Progress spacecraft docked to it. (Credit: NASA)

There are a dozen orbital launches planned around the world through the end of June.

China will lead off on Sunday as it launches its Chang’e-4 lunar relay satellite from Xichang. A lunar lander and rover targeted for the far side of the moon is scheduled for launch at the end of the year.

Orbital ATK will follow with the launch of a Cygnus resupply ship bound for the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday from Wallops Island. On Tuesday, SpaceX is scheduled to launch 5 Iridium Next satellites and a pair of scientific spacecraft for NASA.

Other notable missions scheduled through June include a Soyuz crew mission and a SpaceX Dragon resupply flight. Rocket Lab is probably going to launch the first commercial flight of its Electron booster from New Zealand. However, the company has not published a launch window for the flight.

The current global schedule is below. Be sure to check Space Flight Now’s launch schedule for updates.

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Mars InSight lander (Credit: NASA)

There are some interesting launches among the nine orbital flights currently scheduled for May. Highlights include:

• NASA’s Mars InSight lander with two deep-space CubeSats (May 5);
• SpaceX’s first flight of a Falcon 9 Block 5 variant (NET May 7);
• Two Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE Follow-On) satellites (May 19);
• Orbital ATK’s Antares Cygnus ISS resupply mission (May 20);
• China’s Chang’e-4 lunar relay satellite with two deep-space microsats (TBD); and,
• Rocket Lab’s first Electron commercial flight (TBD).

There have been 40 orbital launches through April, with 38 successes, one failure and one partial failure.

The schedule below is subject to change. Please check with our friends at Spaceflight Now for updates.
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Expedition 55 crew members Ricky Arnold, Drew Feustel and cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev. (Credit: NASA)

Below is the updated launch schedule through the end of April. The 17 scheduled launches include:

• 7 USA (6 Falcon 9, 1 Atlas V)
• 4 Russia (1 Soyuz, 1 Soyuz-2.1, 1 Proton, 1 Rockot)
• 3 India (2 GSLV Mk.2, 1 PSLV)
• 2 China (2 Long March 3B)
• 1 Europe (1 Ariane 5).

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Soyuz rocket takes off from French Guiana on March 9, 2018. (Credit: Arianespace)

It was a successful week for launches around the world.

On Tuesday, SpaceX conducted its 50th launch of the Falcon 9 rocket. The booster orbited the 30W-6 communications satellite for Hispsat of Spain from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida. At 6 metric tons, it was the heaviest geosynchronous satellite ever launched by SpaceX.

On Friday, a Soyuz booster roared off the pad in French Guiana to deliver four O3b F4 communications satellites for SES. It was the third successful launch of Russia’s workhorse Soyuz rocket this year.

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U.S.-specific proposal would protect C-band video and data transmissions and support accelerated 5G roll-out by mobile operators

Luxembourg/Washington, (SES/Intelsat PR) — Leading satellite companies SES S.A. (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) and Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) today announced alignment on a proposal to the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which seeks to protect the wide array of established satellite services in the 3700-4200 MHz C-band downlink spectrum while opening a specified portion of that spectrum for terrestrial mobile use.

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Ariane 5 launches with SES-14 and Al Yah 3 satellites. (Credit: Arianespace)

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

An Ariane 5 booster delivered two communications satellites into the wrong orbits on Thursday, but their owners say the spacecraft are healthy and will be able to reach their intended destinations using on-board propulsion.

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