Satellite News

Rocket: PSLV (core only); Payload: TecSAR (Polaris?); Date: 21 January 2008, 0345 UTC (?); Site: Sriharikota, India. The Israeli radar spy satellite was placed in orbit approx. 20 minutes after lift off. Even as this secretive and long-delayed launch has finally taken place, quite a few questions remain unanswered.

The new 5.5m tracking station on Santa Maria island (Azores, Portugal) was formally inaugurated into the ESTRACK network yesterday.

The German radar satellite, TerraSAR-X, recently was declared operational by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Infoterra GmbH, the company responsible for commercial marketing of TerraSAR-X imaging. The announcement followed the successful outcome of the operational readiness review in December.

Representatives of ESA and of Astrium have signed the main industrial contract for the BepiColombo mission to Mercury. The spacecraft is to be launched in 2013 on board a Soyuz-Fregat 2-1B rocket provided through Arianespace.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Jules Verne has received the green light for its first flight in February 2008.

The first “Land Launch” is now set for March 2008, when a Zenit-3SLB rocket is to loft the Israeli Amos 3 communications satellite.

Integral Systems, Inc. announced the award by Northrop Grumman Corporation of a Phase A contract to begin development of the GPS OCX (Next Generation Control Segment) satellite command and control system.

Spacehab, Incorporated said its Astrotech Space Operations subsidiary has won an additional fully funded task order under the recently awarded Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract.