Previous Spaceflight Launches
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Proton-M/Briz-M | Ekspress-80 & Ekspress-103
Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center | RussiaBaikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
July 30, 2020, 9:25 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:
Ekspress-80 and Ekspress 103 are communications satellites for Russian domestic communication services owned by RSCC (Kosmicheskiya Svyaz). Express 80 will be positioned at 80° East, and will be fitted with 16 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders to cover Russia, as well as two L-band transponders offering global coverage. Express 103 will be positioned at 103° East, and will be fitted with 16 C-band and 20 Ku-band transponders to cover Russia and Southeast Asia, as well as one L-band transponder for global coverage. Both have a design life of 15 years.
Geostationary Transfer Orbit
Atlas V 541 | Mars 2020 (Perseverance rover & Ingenuity helicopter)
United Launch Alliance | United States of AmericaCape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
July 30, 2020, 11:50 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:
Atop this ULA Atlas V rocket will be Perseverance, a car-sized rover which will explore an ancient river delta on Mars. Armed with a suite of six scientific instruments, Perseverance will primarily hunt for clues to the planet's distant past, and hopefully uncover signs of ancient life and habitability. The rover also carries an experiment that'll convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, a box-sized helicopter named Ingenuity that'll demonstrate powered flight on Mars, and a system that enables the rover to leave behind samples for later retrieval and return to Earth during NASA and ESA's ambitious sample return mission later this decade.
Heliocentric N/A
Long March 4B | Ziyuan-3-03
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation | ChinaTaiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China
July 25, 2020, 3:13 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:
Ziyuan is a series of remote sensing satellites in Sun-synchronous orbit around Earth. Ziyuan 3-02 is a Chinese Earth observation satellite, a high-resolution imaging satellite operated by the Ministry of Land and Resources of the People's Republic of China.
Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Soyuz 2.1a | Progress MS-15 (76P)
Progress Rocket Space Center | RussiaBaikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
July 23, 2020, 2:26 p.m.
Long March 5 | Tianwen-1 (Mars Global Remote Sensing Orbiter and Small Rover)
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation | ChinaWenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China
July 23, 2020, 4:41 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:
Tianwen-1 ("questions to heaven") Mars mission includes a Martian orbiter and a lander/rover duo. This will be China's first mission to Mars. The spacecraft will reach Mars in February 2021. Lander will remain attached to the orbiter for two to three months before attempting its landing. The chosen landing area is Utopia Planitia, a huge basin formed by a large impact far back in Mars' history. The rover is expected to be in operation for about 90 Martian sols. The Tianwen-1 orbiter will provide a relay communication link to the rover while performing its own scientific observations for one Martian year. The orbiter will operate in a polar orbit in order to map Mars' morphology and geological structure while also using the Mars-Orbiting Subsurface Exploration Radar instrument to investigate soil characteristics and water-ice distribution. It will also measure the ionosphere and the electromagnetic and gravitational fields, the new paper reported. The rover will have 13 instruments detecting things such as topography, soil, environment, atmosphere, water ice, physical field and internal structure. It will investigate the surface soil characteristics and water-ice distribution with its own Subsurface Exploration Radar. It will also analyze surface material composition and characteristics of the Martian climate and environment on the surface.
Heliocentric N/A
Falcon 9 Block 5 | ANASIS-II
SpaceX | United States of AmericaCape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
July 20, 2020, 9:30 p.m.
H-IIA 202 | Hope (Emirates Mars Mission)
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries | JapanTanegashima Space Center, Japan
July 19, 2020, 9:58 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:
Hope Mars Mission, also known as Al-Amal, is UAE's first interplanetary space probe. It's an orbiter which will study Martian atmosphere and climate with the help of 3 science instruments: Emirates Exploration imager (EXI), Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS), and Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIR). These instruments were designed and built in collaboration with University of Colorado, University of California and Arizona State University. Hope is planned to arrive to Mars in February 2021 and has an expected lifetime of 2 years.
Heliocentric N/A
Minotaur IV | NROL-129
Orbital ATK | United States of AmericaWallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA
July 15, 2020, 1:46 p.m.
Kuaizhou-11 | Maiden Flight
ExPace | ChinaJiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China
July 10, 2020, 4:17 a.m.
Long March 3B/E | APStar-6D
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation | ChinaXichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China
July 9, 2020, 12:11 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:
APStar-6D is a commercial communications satellite for APT Satellite Company Ltd under an end-to-end contract signed with China Great Wall Industry Corp. (CGWIC) for satellite production and launch services. It will deliver VSAT, video distribution, Direct-to-home television and cellular backhaul to the Asia-Pacific Region.
Geostationary Transfer Orbit
