Satellite News

Rocket: Ariane 5 ECA; Payload: Alphasat, INSAT 3D; Date: 25 July 2013, 1954 UTC; Launch site: Kourou, French Guiana. Both satellites were successfully deployed into geostationary transfer orbit in yet another flawless Ariane 5 mission.

The next Ariane mission, designated Flight VA215 in Arianespace’s launcher family numbering system, is to carry the Eutelsat 25B/Es’hail-1 and GSAT-7 telecommunications satellites on 29 August.

During the last eight days, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) team has completed five major processing activities, including one launch, on three different launch pads at both Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) and Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB).

Lockheed Martin, under a contract from the University of Arizona, has completed assembly and testing of the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and has shipped the instrument to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NIRCam is the prime near-infrared imaging instrument for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

On 18 July NASA’s Kepler team initiated exploratory recovery tests on the spacecraft’s two failed wheels. The recovery tests are a series of steps to characterise the performance of Reaction Wheels (RW) 4 and 2, and to determine if either could be returned to operation.

Skycorp Incorporated (again) introduced the Spacecraft Life Extension System (SLES), which is to extend the useful lifetime of Geostationary (GEO) satellites.

Northrop Grumman Corporation reported financial results for the second quarter 2013.