Satellite News

The U.S. Air Force’s first unmanned re-entry spacecraft landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base at 0616 UTC on 3 December..

NASA managers have targeted space shuttle Discovery’s launch for no earlier than 3 February 2011 at 0634 UTC. Shuttle managers determined more tests and analysis are needed before proceeding with the launch of the STS-133 mission to the International Space Station.

A static test firing of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was aborted earlier today.

LightSquared’s recently launched SkyTerra 1 satellite apparently has problems deploying its 22-m antenna.

Eutelsat Communications announced that Thales Alenia Space has been commissioned to build the W3D satellite that will replace the W3B spacecraft lost after its launch on 28 October.

Sirius XM Radio announced that XM-5, the newest addition to its satellite fleet, has been successfully placed in orbit and was declared ready for service.

An experimental tracking campaign using European facilities is helping determine how well existing telescopes and radars can work together to observe objects in Earth orbit. The results will be used to help design ESA’s future Space Situational Awareness system.

Anaren, Inc. has been selected to receive a contract valued in excess of US$20 million from Thales-Alenia-Space (France).