Satellite News

A U.S. Air Force Minotaur 1 rocket carrying the Air Force Research Laboratory’s TacSat-3 satellite and two secondary payloads, NASA’s PharmaSat microsatellite and NASA’s CubeSat Technology Demonstration experiments, is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on 6 May during a launch window beginning at 0000 UTC.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) said it successfully completed a rigorous qualification of its new Draco spacecraft thruster and Draco propulsion tank at the SpaceX Test Facility in McGregor, Texas/USA.

NASA is aiming to launch the final space shuttle mission to upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope a day earlier than planned.

China’s second Beidou navigation satellite, launched a week ago, has been functioning normally since it was put into its final geosynchronous orbit, the Xi’an Satellite Control Center said according to Xinhua.

Lockheed Martin Corporation reported first quarter 2009 results.