Satellite News

Sea Launch AG announced that approximately 40 seconds after lift-off of the launch of the Intelsat 27 spacecraft aboard a Zenit 3SL, all telemetry was lost indicating a loss of mission. The spacecraft, built by Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems, was launched on a Zenit-3SL launch vehicle from the equator on the ocean-based Odyssey launch platform, positioned at 154 degrees West longitude.

NASA and ATK completed the second in a series of development tests for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) booster program on 30 January at ATK’s Promontory, Utah, test facility. This key avionics and controls test was designated Flight Control Test 2 (FCT-2) and included a “hot fire” of the fully integrated heritage thrust vector control (TVC), the new SLS booster avionics subsystem and new electronic support equipment (ESE).

DigitalGlobe, Inc. and GeoEye, Inc. announced the completion of their combination. The combined company will trade on the New York stock exchange as DigitalGlobe under the symbol DGI. Based on the closing price of DigitalGlobe stock on 30 January 2013, the combined company has a market capitalisation of US$2.1 billion.

SES announced that JSC VimpelCom (TM Beeline), one of Russia’s leading mobile operators, has signed a three-year capacity deal for additional capacity on SES’ NSS-9 satellite to deliver high-quality data services in the Russian Far East.