Satellite News

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has completed all performance testing for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope aft-optics subsystem (AOS) under contract to the Northrop Grumman Corporation.

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver announced a newly planned addition to the International Space Station that will use the orbiting laboratory to test expandable space habitat technology. NASA has awarded a US$17.8 million contract to Bigelow Aerospace to provide a Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which is scheduled to arrive at the space station in 2015 for a two-year technology demonstration.

Roskosmos management has reviewed and approved the report provided by the Russian working group investigating the Proton launch anomaly during the Yamal 402 mission and have provided the report to Khrunichev State Research and Space Production Center (Khrunichev). The findings on the identified most probable root cause of the anomaly and the required corrective actions will be released to ILS after the report clears Russian security during the week of 21 January.

Space Systems/Loral (SSL) announced that the Amazonas 3 multi-mission satellite, designed and built for Hispasat Group, has arrived at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, where it will be launched aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle by Arianespace.

COM DEV International Ltd. has been awarded an Authorisation to Proceed (ATP) contract to deliver Ku-band and Ka-band multiplexers, switches and microwave components.

The Azerbaijani Communications and Information Technologies Ministry is in negotiations with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) regarding an orbital slot for a second telecommunications satellite.

An ongoing reform of Russia’s space industry should double its output by 2020, according to a new state programme published last week.

Aon Benfield said it was advising the insurance industry to consider the potential ramifications of a severe space weather event, especially as solar and geomagnetic activity is predicted to peak in the coming 12 months. In response, Aon Benfield Analytics has launched a new report entitled ‘Geomagnetic Storms’ to review the potential threat and risk management implications.