Satellite News

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has completed its primary, two-year science phase.

The first of 18 mirror segments that will fly on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently arrived at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama/USA, for testing.

Integral Systems, Inc. reported preliminary financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ending 30 September 2008.

The U.S. Air Force’s Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) B10 satellite, built by Lockheed Martin , has achieved 15 years of on orbit operations, far exceeding its original 10 year design life.

Rocket: Proton M/Briz M; Payload: Ciel II; Date: 10 December 2008, 1343 UTC; Site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The satellite was successfully deployed by the Briz M upper stage into geostationary transfer orbit at 2255 UTC. Total launch time was 9 hours, 12 minutes.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has successfully completed a series of environmental and operational tests for NASA’s Kepler mission to verify seamless operation of the system level hardware and software.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) said it marked another significant advance with the performance of its smallest rocket engine, Draco.

GeoEye, Inc. said it has finalised a Service Level Agreement (SLA) modification to the company’s existing NextView contract with the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).