SpaceNews This Week | Intelsat-OneWeb merger collapses; Arianespace works off backlog; SpaceShipTwo flies again; Stratolaunch rolls out

June 2, 2017 View this email in your browser sponsored by   OneWeb says no steam lost despite Intelsat merger unravelling Caleb Henry — OneWeb says that the now near-certain collapse of its planned merger with Intelsat has by no means slowed any of the company's progress, and that other geostationary satellite operators have already expressed interest in taking Intelsat's place. Intelsat bonders had until midnight May 31 to agree on the terms of a debt exchange conditional to the merger, whereby Japanese conglomerate SoftBank would have invested $1.7 billion in the company and green-lighted a merger agreement with OneWeb. After three deadline extensions, including one that introduced more favorable exchange terms, bondholders passed on the deal.  Greg Wyler, OneWeb's founder, told SpaceNews June 1 that while Intelsat was a "great partner," it also had a "list of challenges" that complicated the merger, but not OneWeb's progress.  Virgin Galactic nears next phase of SpaceShipTwo test program Jeff Foust — Virgin Galactic performed another glide flight of SpaceShipTwo June 1 as the company suggested it was nearing a new phase in the test program of the suborbital spaceplane. The flight, in the skies above the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, was the fifth free flight of the second SpaceShipTwo, named VSS Unity, and the first in a month. The vehicle was released from its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft and glided to a safe landing back at the airport. With Ariane 5 launch of ViaSat-2 and Eutelsat-172b, Arianespace all caught up on protest-delayed missions Caleb Henry —European launch provider Arianespace's successful launch of ViaSat and Eutelsat telecommunications satellites June 1 on an Ariane 5 rocket marked the completion of all missions offset by protests in French Guiana during March and April. Arianespace launched both satellites at 7:45 p.m. eastern daylight time from Kourou, French Guiana, releasing the 6,400-kilogram ViaSat-2 satellite 29 minutes after liftoff, followed by the 3,550-kilogram Eutelsat-172b satellite 12 minutes later. Territory-wide protests in French Guiana highlighting societal concerns including safety, healthcare and standards of living, used a blockade of the Guiana Space Centre, Europe's spaceport, as a both a bartering chip and a means to gain France's attention. Those protests halted launch activity for Arianespace for five weeks, delaying two Ariane 5 missions and one Soyuz launch until France and its South American territory reached an accord that promised increased resources devoted to French Guiana. Stratolaunch rolls out giant aircraft Jeff Foust — Stratolaunch, the company backed by billionaire Paul Allen to develop air-launch systems, rolled out its giant carrier aircraft for the first time May 31 in advance of ground and flight tests. The aircraft moved out of its hangar at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California for the first time since construction of the giant plane began there several years ago. Two tugs towed the aircraft, resting on its 28-wheel landing gear, just outside the hangar to begin a series of tests. "This marks the completion of the initial aircraft construction phase and the beginning of the aircraft ground and flight testing phase," Jean Floyd, chief executive of Stratolaunch Systems, said in a statement about the rollout. Spaceport checkup delays Proton return to flight to June 7 Caleb Henry — The first launch of Russia's Proton rocket in nearly a year is now scheduled for June 7, a nine-day slip driven by a review of the ground systems at the rocket's launch site. When Proton finally lifts off, it will be carrying EchoStar 21, a 6,900-kilogram commercial telecommunications satellite for Englewood, Colorado-based fleet operator EchoStar. Proton's manufacturer, Moscow-based Krunichev Space Center, said May 30 that preparations are underway for the launch from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. NASA names Solar Probe Plus mission after space scientist Jeff Foust — NASA's Solar Probe Plus mission, scheduled for launch next year to travel closer to the sun than any previous spacecraft, has a new name honoring a scientist who predicted the existence of the solar wind. In a ceremony at the University of Chicago May 31, NASA announced that the spacecraft will now be called the Parker Solar Probe after Eugene Parker, a professor emeritus in the university's astronomy and astrophysics department. The name represents a twist on an agency tradition. "NASA has named about 20 spacecraft after distinguished researchers," said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, at the ceremony. That includes major space telescopes like Hubble, Chandra and Spitzer, as well as smaller missions like Fermi. "However, NASA has never named a spacecraft after a researcher during their lifetime," he added. The Parker Space Probe will be the first such mission. 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