Satellite News

On 10 November, the Angara-A5 left the Integration & Testing Facility in Area 41 of the Plesetsk State Test Cosmodrome in the Archangelsk Region. The first-ever rollout of the heavy-lift launch vehicle and its transfer to the Angara multi-purpose launch pad proceeded as planned.

The launch of Astra 2G aboard a Proton-M is on schedule despite reports that had suggested otherwise. According to International Launch Services, day one of fuelling of the Astra 2G spacecraft was completed on schedule in Baikonur.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Phoenix programme has shared its Hosted POD Assembly Interface Control Document. The document provides specifications for Phoenix’s Payload Orbital Delivery (POD) system, a standardised mechanism currently in development that is intended to safely carry a wide variety of payloads to GEO aboard commercial communications satellites.

CGS SpA Compagnia Generale per lo Spazio has signed a contract with Airbus Defence and Space for the realisation of the MicroWave Imager (MWI) instrument for the MetOp Second Generation satellites.

NASA has officially confirmed the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, clearing it to move forward into the development phase.

The newest node in NASA’s Mars telecommunications network — a radio aboard the MAVEN orbiter custom-designed for data links with robots on the surface of Mars — handled a copious 550 megabits during its first relay of real Mars data.