Satellite News

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. has been contracted to provide a Radarsat-2 information solution to a confidential defence intelligence agency.

China Great Wall Industry Corp. (CGWIC), manufacturer of Nigeria’s NigComSat 1, has confirmed that the satellite suffered a power failure. The spacecraft’s future is uncertain.

India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has successfully reached its intended operational orbit at a height of about 100 km from the lunar surface.

The Ciel II satellite has been delivered to the Baikonour Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and is ready to start its launch campaign for a Proton launch scheduled for the evening of 10 December.

Italian fixed telecommunications provider FASTWEB has signed an industrial agreement with Eutelsat Communications via its Skylogic broadband subsidiary that will allow FASTWEB to extend the coverage of broadband service through satellite connections.

Orbcomm said it has had troubles with six spacecraft launched in June 2008, the U.S. Coast Guard demonstration satellite and five quick-launch satellites. Additionally, two older satellites in orbit are no longer operational.

Kayser-Threde has signed a contract with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Bonn, under which the company will become system prime contractor for the next German satellite mission, EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program).

Boeing announced the successful demonstration of a common software application that can support the space and ground segments of the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT).