Satellite News

The first U.S. Air Force Milstar communications satellite, built by a Lockheed Martin team, has achieved 15 years of on-orbit operations. Five years beyond its original design life, the satellite is 100 percent mission capable.
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Rocket: Proton M/Briz M; Payload: Ekspress-AM44, Ekspress-MD1; Date: 11 February 2009, 0003 UTC; Site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The satellites were successfully delivered into geosynchronous drift orbit.

Two physically intact satellites have collided in low-Earth orbit in an unprecedented incident, creating a cloud of orbital debris the size of which is yet unknown. The spacecraft involved are Kosmos 2251, a defunct Russian military satellite, and Iridium 33, an operational spacecraft in the Iridium phone satellite constellation.

SES S.A.has signed a contract with Space Systems/Loral for the procurement of QuetzSat-1, a high-power communications satellite with coverage of Mexico, North America and Central America.

Harris Corporation said it recently delivered its proposal for a total, end-to-end solution for the ground segment of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series (GOES-R) programme.

Because of an ongoing review of the space shuttle’s flow control valves, NASA managers have rescheduled meetings this week to assess the launch readiness of shuttle Discovery’s STS-119 mission to the International Space Station.
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Scientists See Threat From U.S. Satellite Protection Plan

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ESA’s Herschel and Planck missions that will study the formation of stars and galaxies and the relic radiation from the Big Bang, respectively, have successfully completed their test campaigns in Europe. The two spacecraft will soon be shipped to Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
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Marlink Demonstrates Global Maritime Broadband VSAT Service
NASA awards another NOAA GOES-R instrument contract
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QuikSCAT completes eighth year in orbit
Proton-M to launch third Inmarsat I4 satellite in August
Microsats successfully collaborate in space
Gilat Satellite Networks to be sold, report
Third German radar satellite in orbit

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Lockheed Martin announced that the second Advanced Extremely High Frequency (EHF) military communications satellite is now undergoing thermal vacuum testing at the company’s Sunnyvale, California/USA facilities.
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Orbital Sciences Wins SES Americom Deal
SpaceDev and SEI win Asteroid mission design contest
WINDS/Kizuna launch date set

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