Satellite News

The Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI), one of the 11 scientific instruments (payloads) carried by Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, has successfully been turned on on 16 November 2008.

Sea Launch took delivery of the SICRAL 1B communications satellite last week at the Payload Processing Facility at Sea Launch Home Port in the Port of Long Beach.

A Nigerian minister said yesterday that the NigSatCom 1 satellite after a power failure had been parked “like you park a car” in order to prevent it from damaging other satellites. Recent tracking data however indicate somebody forgot to put on the parking brake.

NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft – the first mission designed to image the interaction at the edge of the solar system – has concluded its orbit-raising phase and is beginning instrument commissioning in preparation to start science observations.

The first Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO-1) payload and ground system, built by a Lockheed Martin team, has been accepted for operations by the U.S Air Force.

TerreStar Corporation announced that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted a request by TerreStar Networks Inc. (TerreStar) for an extension of its satellite launch milestone from 30 September 2008 to 30 June 2009, and its operational milestone from 30 November 2008 to 30 August 2009.

Intelsat, Ltd. reported results for the three-months ending 30 September 2008.

Spacehab, Incorporated announced financial results for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2009.