Satellite News

China’s Chang’e 1 moon probe is to be launched between 22 and 25 October, several Chinese state media reported.

Russia is about to remove four defunct Uragan satellites from the GLONASS navigation satellite constellation, leaving 13 operational spacecraft at most.

Faulty software not only rendered a U.S. spy satellite useless last year but has also led to another delay in Lockheed Martin’s Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS), according to Aerospace Daily & Defense Report.

DigitalGlobe has revealed the first images from WorldView-1, according to the company the highest resolution, most agile commercial satellite ever flown.

ViaSat Inc. has been awarded an US$8.7 million contract from the U.S. Air Force Cryptographic Support Group (CPSG) for system design and development of the next generation Telemetry, Tracking, and Control (TT&C) cryptographic unit.

A Russian Soyuz rocket will launch four Globalstar satellites from the Baikonur cosmodrome on 20 October (UTC), the press service of the Russian federal space agency said.

The fourth modernised Global Positioning System (GPS) Block IIR satellite built by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Air Force is set for launch aboard a Delta II rocket on 17 October from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

“Our photo-copying bill alone was more than $1 million.” — Mel Karmazin, chief executive of Sirius Satellite Radio, commenting on the paperwork regarding the planned merger with XM Satellite Radio.