Satellite News

Andrew Corp. said it agreed to sell its underperforming satellite communications business to private-equity firm Resilience Capital Partners.

The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and ESA have signed a contract for the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) service for the last two Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellites, MSG-3 and MSG-4, to be provided by ESA’s European Satellite Operations Centre (ESOC).

The life of China’s Chang’e I could be doubled since smooth operations during the flight to the moon have allowed the probe to save crucial fuel supplies, state press said.

Boeing and its TEAM TSAT partners have successfully demonstrated the “one-button” start-up feature of its U.S. ground station, an essential element of the companies’ Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) offering.

Astrium said it was on target for the second Skynet 5 satellite launch this year with Skynet 5B scheduled for launch from Kourou, French Guiana on 9 November 2007 on an Ariane 5 launch vehicle.