Satellite News

The European Commission has proposed funding the troubled multi-billion-euro satellite navigation project Galileo wholly from unused EU funds, rather than with money from private industry or member states.

ECAPS, a joint venture of the Swedish Space Corporation and Volvo, has delivered a HPGP (High Performance Green Propulsion) system to SSC for the Prisma satellite mission.

International Launch Services (ILS) has established its independent Failure Review Oversight Board (FROB) that will review the results of the Russian State Commission’s investigation into the Proton launch vehicle failure on 6 September.

The University of South Australia, responsible for day-to-day operation of Australia’s experimental FedSat, says it has lost contact with the satellite.

The team operating NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter is returning the healthy spacecraft to usual activities after the orbiter entered safe mode on 14 September.

Here are a few additional details regarding the Delta II used in the launch of WorldView-1.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 4B; Payload: CBERS 2B; Date: 19 September, 0326 UTC; Site: Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China. The Earth resources satellite separated from the rocket 12 minutes after lift-off, entering a near-circular Sun-synchronous orbit.

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.