Satellite News

After a four-day road trip from Turin, Italy, ESA’s GOCE satellite has arrived safely at the Agency’s test facilities in the Netherlands. With lift-off scheduled for early 2008, the spacecraft is now being prepared for an intensive testing programme.

Diagnostic tests and months of stable, successful operation have resolved concerns raised early this year about long-term prospects for the powerful telescopic camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

Boeing and Lockheed Martin have submitted their competing bids to the U.S. Air Force for the development and production of up to 12 Global Positioning System (GPS) III satellites.