Satellite News

If there is one thing that every business owner in the nation strives to achieve more than anything else, it is to increase their repeat customer proportion as much as possible. It is a sign of success and of reliability for a company to have a high rate of repeat customers: it says to the business community at large, “I provide a quality service, and I’ve got the evidence to prove it!” Without a doubt, a company that has no repeat customers is highly suspect, and most surely enjoys a negative reputation among the business community and the wider community of local residents.

NASA managers have scheduled the next launch attempt of space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-127 mission for 17 June, 0940 UTC. The launch will take place at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

ILS International Launch Services, Inc. (ILS) said at the Paris Air Show that it has secured six firm launch orders and three mission assignments in the first half of 2009. All of them had been announced before, though.

Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman and CEO of Arianespace, and Antonio Fabrizi, Director of Launchers for the European Space Agency (ESA), signed a framework contract concerning the procurement of launch services for future ESA missions.

ESA signed two contracts for the procurement of Long Lead Items required for the construction of the Galileo satellite constellation.

The Lockheed Martin team developing the U.S. Air Force’s Global Positioning System (GPS) III programme has entered the Critical Design Review (CDR) stage on-schedule, an extensive phase that precedes production of the next-generation satellite system.

Lockheed Martin announced that it has delivered the final block of a new flight software architecture that will provide spacecraft command and control operations for the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellite constellation.

At 1053 UTC on 14 June, the cryocover of the Herschel satellite was opened after the spacecraft received a command to fire pyrotechnic bolts holding it down. This crucial step brings ESA’s newest space telescope one step closer to starting its scientific mission.