Satellite News

Orbital Sciences Corporation announced that the Intelsat 18 satellite has completed its in-orbit testing and has been handed over to the customer, Intelsat S.A.

NASA has announced that it will extend the MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) mission for an additional year of orbital operations at Mercury beyond the planned end of the primary mission on 17 March 2012. The MESSENGER probe became the first spacecraft to orbit the innermost planet on 18 March 2011.

NASA’s Voyager 2 has successfully switched to the backup set of thrusters that controls the roll of the spacecraft. Deep Space Network personnel sent commands to the spacecraft to make the change on 4 November and received confirmation today that the switch has been made.