Satellite News

A Delta 2 rocket placed a classified payload into orbit on Dec. 14 for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, the first mission for the newly formed United Launch Alliance. The Delta 2 lifted off…

Access Intelligence LLC., a full-service B2B information and marketing solutions provider, is pleased to announce the launch Dec. 18 of the redesigned Web site of Satellite Today: http://www.satellitetoday.com. SatelliteToday.com’s new format…

The launch of JAXA’s H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 11 (H-IIA F11) with the Engineering Test Satellite Kiku No. 8 (ETS-VIII) onboard has been postponed because of bad weather at the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Tanegashima Space Center.

Rocket: Minotaur I; Payload: TacSat 2, GeneSat 1; Date: 16 December 2006, 1200 UTC; Launch Site: Wallops Island, USA. The satellites were successfully launched on the four-stage launch vehicle contracted by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center through Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Launch Systems Group.

The president and chief executive officer of Spacehab Inc. has announced his retirement, effective 31 December. Michael E. Kearney announced his decision to step down at the company’s annual shareholders meeting.

Canadian companies will not participate in the construction of ESA’s ExoMars rover, CBC News reported. The Canadian government has turned down a request by the country’s space industry to support an ExoMars contract, the report said.

A solar outburst on 6 December produced a record amount of radio noise, said solar physicist Dale Gary, chair of the department of physics at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Owing to a computer software failure, initial research reports in the U.S. downplayed the outbursts.

Recent solar activity has forced ESA mission controllers to react to anomalies or take action to avoid damage to spacecraft. Several missions, including Integral, Cluster and Envisat, felt the storm’s effects. Apparently, the International Space Station’s attitude control system was also affected.