Satellite News

NASA’s progress toward a return to deep space missions continues with a new round of upcoming tests on the next-generation J-2X rocket engine, which will help power the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS).

Boeing will continue modernising the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite constellation for up to five more years, extending the company’s role in the navigation network.

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. announced that its Santa Clara, California-based subsidiary, Comtech Xicom Technology Inc., received a US$4.4 million order from a domestic integrator for Traveling Wave Tube Amplifiers for a U.S. Government Satellite Communications application.

Rocket: Atlas V; Payload: Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) / Landsat 8; Date: 11 February 2013, 1802 UTC; Launch site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA. The LDCM spacecraft separated from the rocket 79 minutes after launch and the first signal was received 3 minutes later at a ground station in Svalbard, Norway.

Rocket: Soyuz-U; Payload: Progress M-18M [Progress 50P]; Date: 11 February 2013, 1441 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The cargo vessel docked to the International Space Station on 2040 UTC.

Landsat 5 successfully set the new Guinness World Records title for ‘Longest-operating Earth observation satellite’ as stated in an e-mail from Guinness World Records sent to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Outliving its three-year design life, Landsat 5 delivered data of Earth’s land surface for 28 years and 10 months.

Following Ariane Flight VA212, both satellites are reported healthy.

Eutelsat Communications and Arianespace announced the signature of a long-term multiple launch services agreement which guarantees launch capacity and flexibility to Eutelsat for its expansion programme.