Satellite News

Maybe you’ve run across headlines like these over the past few days: “New Google Earth Satellite to Launch,” or “Google Earth to Get Amazing High-Res Photos,” etc. Referring to the WorldView 1 satellite launched today, they’re excellent examples for sloppy journalism.

Arqiva has been awarded a contract by the BBC to help bring Freesat, the free-to-air digital TV platform, to air by March 2008.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced a US$115 million contract award with Riverside Technology, Inc. to provide technical support, systems engineering and engineering services for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Services.

Lockheed Martin announced that it has been selected by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center’s Space Development and Test Wing (SDTW) to provide the enterprise management framework, mission management, and infrastructure for current and future missions of the Multi-Mission Satellite Operations Center (MMSOC).

The U.S. Air Force completed a four-phase transition of the Global Positioning System ground segment to the new Architecture Evolution Plan on 14 September.

Alliant Techsystems announced that it has delivered the U.S. Department of Defense’s Tactical Satellite 3 Spacecraft Bus (TacSat-3) to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for final integration and test.

The Mars Odyssey orbiter is in safe mode after a computer glitch prevented the spacecraft from relaying data from the Mars rovers.

On 17 September at 0605 UTC, the Metop-A payload was autonomously switched-off. The satellite is in a safe and stable state, and the recovery has already started.