Satellite News

Spectrolab Inc., a wholly owned Boeing subsidiary, this week received the 2008 SpotBeam Award for Space Innovation from the California Space Authority (CSA) in recognition of its 50 years of advancements in photovoltaic solar cell technology, solar panels and related products.

It took Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat) a week to confirm that its NigComSat 1 has not only temporarily failed in orbit but actually is a total loss. The spacecraft lost both solar arrays in two separate incidents, and independent observations indicate that a hasty emergency attempt to put the satellite into graveyard orbit has failed.

The loss of NigComSat 1 will undoubtedly be viewed by some as a huge setback for China Great Wall Industry Corp. (CGWIC), although the root cause of the failure isn’t known yet. However, future commercial contracts will not only depend on technology and reliability.

The dual-satellite payload for Arianespace’s sixth mission of 2008 is beginning its integration process with launcher hardware as preparations move forward for the year-end flight of Hotbird 9 and W2M at the service of Europe’s telecommunications operator, Eutelsat.

China’s new polar orbiting meteorological satellite, Fengyun 3A and its ground application system, started trial business operation, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said.

Arrowhead Global Solutions has concluded a multi-year agreement for 90MHz of capacity on the upcoming NSS-12 satellite. Arrowhead will use the capacity to support U.S. government needs over the Middle East and East Africa.

MicroSat Systems, Inc. (MSI) has contracted Saft to provide rechargeable Li-ion batteries for the 18 satellites the company is building for Orbcomm’s Generation 2 (OG2) constellation programme.

The Universities Space Research Association (USRA) announced its participation in the upcoming U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)/NASA “Firefly” CubeSat mission.