Satellite News

Japan’s first lunar probe, Kaguya,had been successfully put into observation orbit around the moon, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said.

GeoEye, Inc. has contracted with ITT Corporation to begin work on the camera for GeoEye’s next satellite, GeoEye-2.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) may bid for the new Commercial Orbital Transportation Services demonstration (COTS) contract, a report suggests.

Globalstar, Inc. announced that Radyne Corporation business unit AeroAstro will supply Globalstar with the necessary network upgrades that will enhance both the receiver sensitivity and the overall customer messaging capacity of the Globalstar Simplex data network.

TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) and Glowlink Communications Technology, Inc. announced they have won a satellite hardware and services contract valued at approximately US$8 million to support the spectrum management of the Wideband Global SATCOM Satellite (WGS) system and to continue support for the monitoring and service of the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) satellites.

Orbital Sciences Corporation announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2007.

COM DEV International Ltd. said it has secured a space flight opportunity to demonstrate an advanced AIS data detection capability from space. AIS, or Automatic Identification System, is a VHF broadcast system required aboard major marine vessels to locate and identify ships at sea.

On 23 October, 1538 UTC, the Esperia STS-120/10A Mission, will take off from the NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre, in Florida. Onboard the Space Discovery Shuttle will be Node 2, the interconnecting unit developed in Italy by Thales Alenia Space.