Satellite News

Rocket: Chang Zheng 2-D; Payload: Yaogan XI (YG 11; Yaogan-Weixing 11); Date: 22 September 2010, 0242 UTC; Launch Site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. According to Chinese state media, the launch was successful.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne successfully completed the latest round of tests on the workhorse gas generator for NASA’s J-2X rocket engine. With the first NASA J-2X engine far along in development, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is on track to begin testing in 2011 at Stennis Space Center.

Thales Alenia Space announced tri-partite contracts with Russian Space Communications Company (RSCC) and ISS-Reshetnev to supply the Ekspress AM8, AT1 and AT2 communications satellite payloads.

ISS-Reshetnev said it has achieved significant milestones in testing the Amos-5 telecommunications satellite being built for the Israeli service provider Space Communication Ltd.

A Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) Demonstration satellite built by Northrop Grumman and Raytheon autonomously transferred target track data from its acquisition sensor to its tracking sensor last July, the first time such a capability has been executed in space for the programme.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. said it would have a significant role on two of the five science instruments that will fly aboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), a European-built spacecraft slated for launch to Mars in March 2016. The orbiter is a joint effort between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to explore Mars in future decades.

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. announced that it has signed a contract worth C$6 million with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to provide an advanced technology solution for CSA’s Exploration Surface Mobility programme.

Thales SA and OHB Technology AG may sign the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) weather-satellite contract with the European Space Agency at the end of September, La Tribune reported, without citing anyone. The role of German companies in the project has reportedly been expanded after complaints from Berlin.