Satellite News

A yet-to-be-published report claims that the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B “mini shuttle” was spying on China’s Tiangong-1 space lab. According to many experts, this seems to be rather far-fetched.
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A group of hackers at the Chaos Computer Club’s Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin recently proposed an initiative called the Hackerspace Global Grid (HGG), which aims to develop a satellite system for “uncensorable Internet in space.” Don’t hold your breath.Other Posts:Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. results Q1 2008Russia gives up GEO-IK-2Ferrari To Offer XM Radio And XM NavTrafficBoeing and Ball Aerospace announced SBSS readied for launchShin Satellite Completes Transfer Of Customers To Thaicom 5Taking it to the “Extreme”International Datacasting Names ChairmanKSC reopens after the passage of Ernesto

Roskosmos deputy head Vitaly Davydov has confused some western media outlets with his announcement that the International Space Station (ISS) will be plunged into the ocean at the end of its life cycle.
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Wikileaks has finally reached the satellite industry, creating hundreds of sensationalist reports that claim the “United States and Germany are jointly developing secret spy satellites under the guise of a commercial programme.” While this is outright nonsense, the leaked U.S. diplomatic cables are interesting for other reasons.
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There are contradicting reports regarding the possible cause of the GSLV-F06 launch failure. While it is undisputed that some connectors snapped and disabled flight control for the first stage, this was not likely the root cause for the mishap.

A bright spiralling light spotted in skies across Australia’s east coast just before local dawn on 5 June has sparked a UFO frenzy. The phenomenon has been linked to the inaugural flight of SpaceX’s Falcon 9, and the company may possibly have to answer some questions what actually happened to their second stage after it successfully achieved orbit.
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When Gazprom Space Systems in January announced the order of two satellites from Thales Alenia Space, it also somewhat vaguely stated that part of the deal was a “supplier guarantee to provide for investment crediting of the project on the world financial market on beneficial terms. This will allow to attract foreign investments to the Russian orbital constellation development.” What could the last sentence possibly mean?

When the U.S. Government Accountability Office recently published a report highlighting possible problems with the GPS constellation in future years, reactions ranged from “accuracy not in danger” (U.S. Air Force) to “close to breakdown” (The Guardian). Which is true? In a nutshell: neither. Or both.