Satellite News

A U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin team announced that the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) III constellation, which provides communications capabilities to the U.S. military, has surpassed 175-years of on-orbit service.

SES Astra has awarded the contract for the construction of its a satellite, Astra 3B, to the European satellite manufacturer Astrium. As prime contractor for Astra 3B, Astrium will design and build the satellite.

Optus reportedly is in discussions with Orbital Sciences, the company that built and — apparently wrongly configured — the recently launched Optus D1 satellite.

A report by Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post supports claims of a human rights group that China’s recently launched SinoSat 2 (Xinnuo 2) has failed and is likely a complete loss.

NASA’s said that its Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) is likely lost, but efforts to regain contact with the spacecraft and determine what has happened to it will continue. Yesterday’s attempt to take an image of the silent spacecraft using a high-resolution camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has apparently failed.

Claudio Martini, governor of Tuscany, has requested a Rai International satellite channel to promote Italian tourism worldwide. In a Nov. 18 letter to Rai president Claudio Petruccioli, Italian culture minister…

Iridium Satellite LLC announced Nov. 20 its appointment of Lieutenant General John Campbell, U.S. Air Force (retired), as the global mobile satellite…

Speck of Palo Alto, Calif., announced Nov. 20 that it is partnering with Sirius Satellite Radio to develop licensed products for their…