Satellite News

Rocket: Ariane 5 ECA; Payload: Star One C2, Vinasat 1; Date: 18 April 2008, 2217 UTC; Site: Kourou, French Guiana. The mission was completed successfully without a hitch 31 minutes after lift-off.
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Orbital Sciences Corporation announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2008. The company also said it will sell its transportation management systems business.
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Several instruments that will help NASA characterise the moon’s surface have been installed on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO. Four of six instruments have been mated to the spacecraft, with one to be installed soon and one to arrive in the near future.
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The European Space Agency and Astrium have signed a EUR195 million (US$310 million) contract to provide the first Sentinel-2 Earth observation satellite, devoted to monitoring the land environment, as part of the European GMES programme.
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Russia has denied that another of its military satellites has disintegrated but confirmed the spacecraft has ceased operations.
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The Lockheed Martin team developing the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) has successfully delivered two key blocks of ground software integral to supporting the programme’s geosynchronous orbit (GEO) and highly elliptical orbit (HEO) constellation.
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U.S. Strategic Command has accepted command and control of its first Wideband Global SATCOM space vehicle, WGS-1.
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Arianespace will boost two communications satellites into orbit on its second launch of the year: Star One C2 for Brazilian operator Star One, as part of a turnkey contract with Thales Alenia Space; and Vinasat-1, built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems (LMCSS) for operator Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Corporation (VNPT).
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