Satellite News

Lockheed Martin has completed all factory testing of the first satellite in the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) programme and the spacecraft is ready for delivery to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where it will be prepared for a mid-2010 lift-off aboard an Atlas V launch vehicle.

NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter heard no signal from the Phoenix Mars Lander when it listened from orbit while passing over Phoenix 60 times last week.

DigitalGlobe has contracted with Raytheon Company to provide an enhanced constellation collection management system.

SES World Skies announced Alldean Satellite Networks (K) LTD has signed a multiyear satellite capacity agreement aimed at providing communications solutions to metropolitan and remote businesses across East Africa.

With demand growing for higher bandwidth communications and finite orbital slots, satellite operators want satellites that are more powerful and flexible than ever before, according to Frost & Sullivan. The wider acceptance of dual-use platforms in the global satellite manufacturing market will bring new opportunities to satellite owners, satellite service providers and satellite manufacturers.

NSR has released its newest market survey and forecast report: “Hosted Payloads on Commercial Satellites.” The report provides an in-depth overview of demand trends for military as well as civil government requirements for hosted payloads, focusing on Communications and Earth Observation/Science missions.

The final astronaut visit to NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in May 2009 was the most difficult, and its success equipped the telescope with the systems and scientific instruments that will allow it to continue its magnificent exploration of the universe well into the next decade. The Space Foundation recognised the team that put together that mission and carried it out with their 2010 Space Achievement Award.

Honeywell announced that its flight operations support team for Landsat-5 has completed the mission’s 26th year in orbit, well beyond the planned three-year mission-life, delivering data for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).