Satellite News

Astrium has been awarded a contract by the European Space Agency (ESA) to pursue development of the Ariane 5 Midlife Evolution (A5 ME) launcher. The final decision on the development of Ariane 5 ME will be taken by the ESA member states at a Ministerial Council meeting slated for November 2012.

An agreement was signed by ESA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for co-operation on Astro-H, an important mission that will provide a unique opportunity for probing extreme phenomena in the Universe.

ITT Exelis Geospatial Systems has delivered GeoEye’s next-generation commercial imaging system for the GeoEye-2 satellite to Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Sunnyvale, California. When operational in 2013, GeoEye-2 will deliver the highest resolution and most accurate colour imagery to GeoEye’s commercial, government and international customers.

Afghanistan will select a bidder for the country’s first-ever communications satellite within six months.

Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) announced that it is teaming with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center to host a laser communications relay demonstration (LCRD) on a commercial satellite to be launched in 2016. NASA’s Space Technology Program selected Goddard’s mission proposal to use the SS/L satellite platform to help enable the next era of space communications.

Fragments of a defunct Russian Moliya-1T military communication satellite fell into the Pacific Ocean, Roskosmos said.

Khrunichev announced that the Ekspress MD2 satellite it is building currently is at the Radiofizika OAO (Joint Stock Company) Test Facility. The spacecraft is being tested for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and the performance of the onboard RF system (ORFS) is being measured in an anechoic chamber.

Russia plans to send a satellite with a radio beacon to near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis to examine the likelihood of its collision with Earth, the country’s Academy of Sciences said in a report.