Satellite News

Two satellite interest groups have opposed a proposal made at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to allow terrestrial fixed services to operate in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band, saying the move would cause harmful interference to fixed and mobile satellite-based services.

Rocket: Proton K/Block DM-2; Payload: Kosmos 2440 (?); Date: 27 June 2008, 2359 UTC; Site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The official Kosmos designation for this military satellite, which successfully reached its target orbit, hasn’t been announced yet.

Millions of TV screens around the globe went blank for more than a quarter of an hour during the first semi-final of the European football (soccer) championship. However, it wasn’t a satellite or other transmission glitch. Instead, practically everything else that could go wrong did go… even worse than wrong.

The European Commission has cleared Abertis Infraestructuras SA., Inta, Sepi and CDTI’s proposed acquisition of a controlling stake in Hispasat.

The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne a US$2.2 million contract for the fabrication and ground test of a Solar Thermal Propulsion rocket engine.

Canada is building the world’s first space telescope designed to detect and track asteroids as well as satellites. Called NEOSSat (Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite), this spacecraft will provide a significant improvement in surveillance of asteroids that pose a collision hazard with Earth, and technologies for tracking satellites in orbit.

Russia plans to launch a military satellite aboard a Proton-K/Block-DM2 later tonight (UTC).

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) successfully conducted a full launch dress rehearsal and hold down firing of the Falcon 1 Flight 3 vehicle on 25 June (Marshall Island Time) on Omelek Island, SpaceX’s launch site at the Kwajalein Atoll.