Satellite News

Rocket: Soyuz U; Payload: Progress M-02M (Progress P33); Date: 7 May 2009, 1837 UTC; Site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Less than nine minutes later, the cargo vessel reached its preliminary orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas.

Stormy weather has forced NASA to scrub its second scheduled launch TacSat 3 aboard a Minotaur I rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.

The Ekspress AM44 satellite designed and manufactured by the JSC Academician M.F. Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems (ISS) was accepted by the customer, the federal state unitary enterprise Space Communication (RSCC) on 6 May.

Although its peak is still four years away, a new active period of Earth-threatening solar storms will be the weakest since 1928, predicts an international panel of experts led by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center and funded by NASA. Despite the prediction, Earth is still vulnerable to a severe solar storm.

Inmarsat Holdings Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Inmarsat plc, reported unaudited consolidated financial results for the three months ending 31 March 2009.

Measat Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd announced that Telekom Malaysia Berhad has renewed a contract for the leasing of transponder capacity on the Measat-3 satellite.

Concerns regarding North Korea’s possible plans to develop long-range missiles set aside – the country’s claim to have launched the Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite undoubtedly also has a certain fun factor. Pyongyang now even claims the spacecraft was being jammed.