12.01.17
Japan postponed the launch of TRICOM1 satellite, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is creating Liana space military system, SpaceX will put Iridium NEXT satellites into orbit, and China is opening a new era of commercial space exploration – read details in our review.
Experts from Japan-based JAXA agency are not yet ready to launch SS-520 sounding rocket with TRICOM1 satellite. The event was moved to indefinite period because of weather conditions. SS-520 vehicle is considered to be the most compact in the world: 9.5 m in length and 52 cm diameter. If communications satellite TRICOM1 is put into orbit successfully, researchers will be able to obtain photos from its camera for about a month.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation will represent Liana space military system. Arsenal Machine-Building Plant has already started producing its components: Lotos-S and Pion-NKS satellites. This equipment will replace the outdated satellite generation.
China-based CASIC company launched three satellites from Jiuquan Satellite launch Center using Kuaizhou-1A commercial rocket. One of them – JL-1 – is transporting fine-resolution Earth image, helping in disaster management. Other two vehicles – Caton-1 and CubeSats XY-S1 – were launched to test communications and data exchange.
On January 14, SpaceX experts will launch Falcon 9 rocket into space. It will allow American company to put 10 Iridium NEXT telecommunications satellites into orbit.
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