Satellite News

Eutelsat Communications announced the launch of a new aeronautical mobile service called Eutelsat Air Access designed to accelerate the deployment by commercial airlines operating in Europe of in-flight connectivity for passengers.

Intelsat S.A. announced that Spain-based Global IP, a provider of satellite communications for maritime, energy and corporate customers, has signed multi-year agreements allowing it to provide broadband service to its maritime customers in the Indian Ocean region.

SES announced that Georgian mobile and telecommunication company MagtiSat signed an agreement for a fourth transponder at the Astra 31.5 degrees East orbital position after the first year of operations of MagtiSat, Georgia’s first domestic direct-to-home (DTH) satellite platform.

The launch of NASA’s TDRS-K Tracking and Data Relay Satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is being rescheduled to 31 January. The launch window is 0152-0232 UTC, a duration of 40 minutes.

Japan is to launch a new spy satellite on 27 January between 0400 and 0600 UTC. An H-2A rocket carrying a radar reconnaissance satellite is scheduled to blast off from the Tanegashima space centre, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced.

The BepiColombo Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) Mechanical and Propulsion Bus (MPB) Proto-Flight Model (PFM) arrived at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, in December. It had travelled from the Stevenage (UK) facility of Astrium, where the propulsion subsystem and the heat pipes had been integrated.

ITT Exelis has been awarded a US$2.15 million contract by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to research the development of a small satellite navigation payload to augment the current Global Positioning System (GPS) programme.

The first switch-on of a Galileo search and rescue package shows it to be working well. Its activation begins a major expansion of the space-based Cospas-Sarsat network, which brings help to air and sea vessels in distress.