Satellite News

SES S.A. announced the signature of a comprehensive collaboration agreement with SSI-Monaco (Space Systems International Monaco S.A.M.).

Preparations to launch a Proton-M rocket with the Astra-2E satellite aboard have been suspended until the inquiry into yesterday’s Proton-M crash is over. Also: a new video has been posted that shows the launch from a different perspective; the 17-seconds-mystery; and several other updates.

NASA recently testing a pressurised, large cryogenic propellant tank made of composite materials. The composite tank will enable the next generation of rockets and spacecraft needed for space exploration, the agency said.

The joint NASA and Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) Jason-1 ocean altimetry satellite was decommissioned this week following the loss of its last remaining transmitter.

Rocket: PSLV-C22; Payload: IRNSS-1A; Date: 1 July 2013, 1811 UTC; Launch site: Shriharikota, India. The first of the seven satellites planned under the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) was successfully deployed into geosynchronous transfer orbit.

A contract was signed today between Sir Martin Sweeting, Executive Chairman of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) and Mr. Amanzhol Jaimurzin, General Director of JV Ghalam LLP, for the collaborative design and development of the Kazakh Science and Technology satellite system. Ghalam LLP is a joint venture between JSC “National company Kazakhstan Garysh Sapary” (KGS) and EADS Astrium.

NASA has turned off its Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) after a decade of operations in which the venerable space telescope used its ultraviolet vision to study hundreds of millions of galaxies across 10 billion years of cosmic time.

After more than a year of planning and preparation, a team of Ad Astra engineers and physicists, along with NASA engineers participating as part of a technical interchange, completed the company’s first formal preliminary design review (PDR) of the VF-200 engine. The 200 kW “proto-flight” is the company’s first engine planned to be tested in space. The review was conducted on 26 June 2013 at Ad Astra’s research facility near Houston, Texas.