Satellite News

iDirect, Inc. has received a series of intellectual property patents protecting critical aspects of its Intelligent Platform for satellite IP communications.

CBERS-2B, the third Sino-Brazilian Earth resources satellite, will soon be fully operational and ready to relay pictures back to ground control, a scientist was quoted as saying by China Daily.

Hughes Network Systems, LLC announced the successful on-orbit handover of the Spaceway 3 commercial communications satellite from Boeing.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has completed the Systems Requirements Review (SRR) for what will be the third Falcon 9 / Dragon demonstration under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme.

In December, NASA will begin testing core components of the J2-X rocket engine. Data from the tests will help NASA build the next generation engine that will power the new Ares launch vehicles, the agency said.

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. announced that the Alliance Spacesystems acquisition has closed. The acquisition is expected to be slightly accretive to MDA’s earnings in 2008.

GeoEye has secured insurance in the amount of US$20 million on its Ikonos satellite for 2008 with terms comparable to those it had for 2007, the company said.

Boeing said it successfully completed the third demonstration of its next generation processor/router (NGPR) technologies for the Transformational Satellite Communications System Space Segment (TSAT SS).