Satellite News

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of Space Systems/Loral, Inc. (SS/L) for US$875 million in a transaction that is immediately accretive.

Avanti Communications Group plc said that HYLAS 2, its second satellite, will launch at approximately 2250 UTC on 2 August 2012 upon an Ariane 5 launch vehicle.

A manoeuvre on 26 June adjusted the flight path of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft for delivering the rover Curiosity to a landing target beside a Martian mountain.

The preflight test layers of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope sunshield are meeting expected performance targets during tests by engineers at Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC). The company is under contract to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for the design and development of Webb’s sunshield, telescope and spacecraft.

Boeing said it recently demonstrated the dual-role propulsion features and performance of the Orbital manoeuvring Attitude Control (OMAC) engine on the service module for the company’s Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft. The tests were conducted as part of the second phase of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) programme.

Due to the forecast for Tropical Storm Debby, the launch of a Delta 4 carrying a national security payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office is delayed 24 hours.
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NASA has modified its NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract with Orbital Sciences Corporation to add the Antares launch vehicle, formerly known as Taurus II, for future missions.
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Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announced that its Merlin 1D engine has achieved a full mission duration firing and multiple restarts at target thrust and specific impulse (Isp).
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