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2006 In Spaceflight
This article outlines notable events occurring in 2006 in spaceflight, including major launches and EVAs. 2006 saw Brazil, Iran, and Sweden all get a national into space for the first time. Launches , colspan=8, January , - , colspan=8, February , - , colspan=8, March , - , colspan=8, April , - , colspan=8, May , - , colspan=8, June , - , colspan=8, July , - , colspan=8, August , - , colspan=8, September , - , colspan=8, October , - , colspan=8, November , - , colspan=8, December , - Suborbital launches , colspan=8, January , - , colspan=8, February , - , colspan=8, March , - , colspan=8, April , - , colspan=8, May , - , colspan=8, June , - , colspan=8, July , - , colspan=8, August , - , colspan=8, September , - , colspan=8, October , - , colspan=8, November , - , colspan=8, Dec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States's civil list of government space agencies, space program, aeronautics research and outer space, space research. National Aeronautics and Space Act, Established in 1958, it succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the American space development effort a distinct civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. It has since led most of America's space exploration programs, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968–1972 Apollo program missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. Currently, NASA supports the International Space Station (ISS) along with the Commercial Crew Program and oversees the development of the Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft and the Sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Communications Satellite
A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Radio receiver, receiver at different locations on Earth. Communications satellites are used for television, telephone, radio, internet, and military applications. Many communications satellites are in geostationary orbit above the equator, so that the satellite appears stationary at the same point in the sky; therefore the satellite dish antennas of ground stations can be aimed permanently at that spot and do not have to move to track the satellite. Others form satellite constellations in low Earth orbit, where antennas on the ground have to follow the position of the satellites and switch between satellites frequently. The radio waves used for telecommunications links travel by Line-of-sight propagation, line of sight and so are obstructe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geosynchronous Orbit
A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital period means that, for an observer on Earth's surface, an object in geosynchronous orbit returns to exactly the same position in the sky after a period of one sidereal day. Over the course of a day, the object's position in the sky may remain still or trace out a path, typically in a figure-8 form, whose precise characteristics depend on the orbit's inclination and eccentricity. A circular geosynchronous orbit has a constant altitude of . A special case of geosynchronous orbit is the geostationary orbit (often abbreviated ''GEO''), which is a circular geosynchronous orbit in Earth's equatorial plane with both inclination and eccentricity equal to 0. A satellite in a geostationary orbit remains in the same position in the sky to observers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EchoStar
EchoStar Corporation is an American telecommunications company, specializing in satellite communication, wireless telecommunications, and internet services. Echostar also provides multichannel video programming and mobile services through its subsidiaries: Dish Network, Boost Mobile, Sling TV, EchoStar Mobile, and Hughes Network Systems. Originally establishing the Dish Network brand name in 1996, EchoStar later acquired Dish as a wholly-owned subsidiary in 2023. EchoStar made its debut on the Fortune 500 list in 2024, ranking #242. Its main competitor is DirecTV, who failed to acquire Dish Network in 2024. History EchoStar was originally formed in 1980 by its chairman Charles Ergen as a distributor of C band TV systems. In 1987, it applied for a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) license with the Federal Communications Commission and was granted access to orbital slot 119° west longitude in 1992. On December 28, 1995, the firm successfully launched its first satellite, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EchoStar X
EchoStar X, also known as EchoStar 10, is an U.S. Con. geostationary communications satellite which is operated by EchoStar on behalf of Dish Network. It is positioned in Geostationary orbit at a longitude of 110.2°, West, i=0.0°, 20+Jahren, from where it is used to provide direct broadcasting services to the United States. EchoStar X was built by Lockheed Martin, and is based on the A2100AXS satellite bus. It is equipped with 42 J band (U.S. OTAN ) transponders, and at started it had a mass of , with an expected operational lifespan of 16 years The satellite was started using a Sea Launch LLC USSR Zenit-3SL (inkl.: Zenit 2S (Energia LV), 11C861_SL, Boeing support, Echostar X, Fairing, inkl. TDRSS transmitters) heavy ballistische rocket flying from the Ocean Odyssey launch platform. The start occurred at 23:34:55 UTC on 15.February 2006, leaving Echostar X in a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Its orbit was then raised using an onboard LEROS-1C apogee motor, with insertion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sea Launch
Sea Launch was a multinational—Norway, Russia, Ukraine, United States—spacecraft launch company founded in 1995 that provided orbital launch services from 1999 to 2014. The company used a mobile maritime launch platform for equatorial launches of commercial payloads on specialized Zenit-3SL rockets from a former mobile/floating oil drilling rig renamed ''Odyssey''. By 2014, it had assembled and launched thirty-two rockets, with an additional three failures and one partial failure. All commercial payloads were communications satellites intended for geostationary transfer orbit with such customers as EchoStar, DirecTV, XM Satellite Radio, PanAmSat, and Thuraya. The approach Sea Launch LLC used was to assemble the launcher on a purpose-built ship '' Sea Launch Commander'' in Nimitz Rd., Long Beach, California, USA. The assembled spacecraft was then positioned on top of the self-propelled ''Odyssey'' floating launch platform and moved to the equatorial Pacific Ocean f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ocean Odyssey
LP ''Odyssey'' is a self-propelled semi-submersible mobile spacecraft launch platform converted from a mobile Oil platform, drilling rig in 1997. The vessel was used by Sea Launch for equatorial Pacific Ocean launches. She works in concert with the assembly and control ship . Her home port was at the Port of Long Beach in the United States. In her current form, ''Odyssey'' is long and about wide, with an empty draft displacement of , and a submerged draft displacement of . The vessel has accommodations for 68 crew and launch system personnel, including living, dining, medical and recreation facilities. A large environmentally-controlled hangar stores the rocket during transit, from which the rocket is rolled out and erected prior to fueling and launch. In September 2016 the platform along with other Sea Launch assets was sold to S7 Group, the parent company of S7 Airlines. Since then she has been moved to a port on the east coast of Russia, along with the other ship. Histor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zenit-3SL
The Zenit-3SL was an expendable carrier rocket operated by Sea Launch. First flown in 1999, it was launched 36 times, with three failures and one partial failure. It was a member of the Zenit family of rockets, and is built by the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau. RKK Energia produced the Block DM-SL upper stage, whilst the payload fairing was produced by Boeing. Launches were conducted from the Ocean Odyssey platform anchored on the equator in the Pacific Ocean, at a point with 154°W longitude, about 370 kilometres east of Kiritimati. The Zenit-3SL design began in the late 1980s as the Zenit-3, a proposed replacement for the Proton-K, which would have used a Zenit-2 rocket with a Block D upper stage. This proposal was shelved after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, as Russia inherited the space programme, however the Zenit was manufactured in Ukrainian SSR. Boeing became involved in the programme in 1994. The design was subsequently modified, with a modified version of the Bloc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sun Synchronous Orbit
A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is an orbit arranged so that it precesses through one complete revolution each year, so it always maintains the same relationship with the Sun. Applications A Sun-synchronous orbit is useful for imaging, reconnaissance, and weather satellites, because every time that the satellite is overhead, the surface illumination angle on the planet underneath it is nearly the same. This consistent lighting is a useful characteristic for satellites that image the Earth's surface in visible or infrared wavelengths, such as weather and spy satellites, and for other remote-sensing satellites, such as those carrying ocean and atmospheric remote-sensing instruments that require sunlight. For example, a satellite in Sun-synchronous orbit might ascend acros ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Advanced Land Observation Satellite
Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS), also called Daichi (a Japanese word meaning "land"), was a 3810 kg Japanese satellite launched in 2006. After five years of service, the satellite lost power and ceased communication with Earth, but remains in orbit. Launch ALOS was launched from Tanegashima, Japan, on 24 January 2006 by H-IIA No. 8. The launch had been delayed three times by weather and sensor problems. Mission The satellite contained three sensors that were used for cartography and disaster monitoring of Asia and the Pacific Ocean. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) initially hoped to be able to launch the successor to ALOS during 2011, but this plan did not materialize. In 2008, it was announced that the images generated by ALOS were too blurry to be of any use for map making. Only 52 of 4,300 images of Japan could be updated based on data from ALOS. Then, JAXA announced the problem was solved. ALOS was used to analyze several disaster sites. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoshinobu Launch Complex
Yoshinobu Launch Complex (abbreviated as LA-Y) is a List of rocket launch sites, rocket launch site at the Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima. The site and its collection of facilities were originally built for the H-II launch vehicle and later used for H-IIA, H-IIB and H3 (rocket), H3 launches. It is the most Northern launch complex at Tanegashima, and along with the now inactive Osaki Launch Complex used for orbital launches. The Yoshinobu Launch Complex consists of two launch pads. The complex also contains a Engine test stand, test stand for firing the LE-7 engines used in the first stage of the H-II and its derivatives. Prior to launch, rockets are processed vertically in the complex's vehicle assembly building. The rocket is rolled out to the launch pad on a mobile launcher platform about twelve hours before it is scheduled to launch. It takes around thirty minutes to transport the rocket from the assembly building to Pad 1. See also * References Space ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
