Satellite News

Rocket: Atlas V; Payload: TDRS-K; Date: 31 January 2013, 0128 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The Boeing-built satellite was placed into geostationary transfer orbit. Controllers in Australia confirmed initial contact with it two hours and three minutes later.

South Korea’s scientific STSAT-2C satellite has made its first contact with a ground station, Yonhap news agency said.

Astrotech Corporation announced that its Astrotech Space Operations (ASO) subsidiary has been awarded a NASA Not-to-Exceed US$9.1 million Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for commercial payload processing services at ASO Florida.

Northrop Grumman Corporation accepted delivery of the aft-optical system (AOS) from teammate Ball Aerospace, marking the completion of all flight optics for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

Northrop Grumman Corporation reported financial results for the year 2012.

Rocket: KSLV-1 (Naro); Payload: Science and Technology Satellite 2C (STSAT 2C), Date: 30 January 2013, 0700 UTC; Launch site: Naro Space Center, South Korea. The satellite was put into designated elliptical orbit nine minutes after lift-off.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded Astrium EUR108 million worth of prime contractor agreements covering the development of the Ariane 6 and Ariane 5 ME launchers. The contracts follow on from the decisions reached at the ESA Ministerial Council meeting in Naples on 20-21 November 2012.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Space Communication Ltd. (Spacecom) announced an agreement to launch Spacecom’s Amos-6 satellite on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Falcon 9 will insert the communications satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).