Satellite News

In May 2017, Inmarsat and Thales executed a series of tests that successfully demonstrated communications using Thales’ System 21 on Inmarsat’s Global Xpress (GX) high-capacity steerable antennas.

Derelict satellites could in future be grappled and removed from key orbits around Earth with a space tug using magnetic forces, the European Space Agency said.

Orbital ATK announced the completion of its Rendezvous, Proximity Operations and Docking (RPOD) system preliminary design review. The RPOD system comprises the sensors, actuators and control algorithms which allow for the detection, tracking, and safe approach to a client spacecraft.

Airbus Defence and Space and Arianespace announced the signature of the launch services contract for the next generation of very-high-resolution optical observation satellites.

China will launch a satellite in the second half of 2017 to gather electromagnetic data that may be used in monitoring and forecasting earthquakes.

China’s quantum communication satellite, launched last August, is officially operational after four months of in-orbit testing, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said Wednesday.

ISRO has postponed the launch of its GSLV Mk-III to allow time for additional testing of the vehicle. The rocket will either be launched in March or April after completing the tests.

For its year-opening launch of 2017, Arianespace will orbit the Hispasat 36W-1 geostationary satellite for the Spanish operator Hispasat using a Soyuz launch vehicle.