Satellite News

Spacehab, Incorporated said that its Astrotech Space Operations (ASO) subsidiary is responding to a NASA Request for Proposal (RFP) soliciting payload processing capabilities for expendable launch vehicles from the Western Range in California, USA.

The U.S. Air Force plans to replace the command-and-control system for GPS without any loss of service to military or civil users this summer.

The launch of the UK’s Skynet 5A and India’s INSAT 4B aboard an Ariane 5 ECA has been scheduled for 9 March.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 3A; Payload: Beidou 1D (Beidou 4)?; Date: 3 February 2006, 1628 UTC; Launch Site: Xichang Satellite Launching Centre, China. The navigation satellite separated from the rocket about 24 minutes after lift-off.

“It’s amazing. There was some damage to the pad, but the bridge is fine and the light bulbs in the hangar are still on and working.” — Sea Launch spokeswoman Paula Korn about the explosion of a Zenit-3SL aboard the company’s launch platform

Com Dev International Ltd. plans a C$4-million (EUR2.6 million, US$3.4 million) expansion of its Cambridge, Ontario/Canada plant that will expand its size by 22 percent.

Radyne Corporation announced that its Xicom Technology subsidiary received orders totalling US$4.0 million for power amplifiers for a follow on procurement for the Ground Multi-Band Terminal (GMT) and World-Wide Satellite Systems (WWSS) programmes.

Alliant Techsystems reported financial results for the second quarter of the company’s fiscal year 2007.