Satellite News

Harris Corporation has been selected by the U.S. Air Force for the Network and Space Operations and Maintenance (NSOM) programme.

MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) has completed the first of three planned Mercury flybys.

The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) has officially taken over the control of SES Sirius’s telecommunication satellite Sirius 4.

Boeing has been awarded a contract to build (or refurbish?) a commercial satellite for ProtoStar Ltd.

Al Yah Satellite Communications Company PrJsc (Yahsat), a wholly owned subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, has signed a letter of intent with Arianespace to launch the Yahsat 1A communications satellite. Mubadala has meanwhile invited several banks to submit financing proposals for the planned Yahsat system.

Rocket: Zenit 3SL/Block DM-SL; Payload: Thuraya 3; Date: 15 January 2008, 1149 UTC; Launch Site: Odyssey Launch Platform, positioned on the equator at 154 degrees West Longitude in the Pacific Ocean. Spacecraft separation occurred 99 minutes after lift-off.

German weekly Der Spiegel quoted a confidential Berlin government report as forecasting that the Galileo navigation satellite system will cost at least EUR1.5 billion more than the EU Commission believes. The report was rejected by the German government as well as by the Commission.

Measat Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd, Malaysia, announced the expansion of its satellite network into Africa with the commissioning of the Africasat-1 (f.k.a. MEASAT-1) satellite at the 46 degrees East orbital location.