Satellite News

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.

Two more Soyuz launchers have now arrived in French Guiana, joining a previously-delivered vehicle that is being readied for Arianespace’s next Spaceport mission with the medium-lift launcher.

Astrium recently signed a contract with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), the South Korean space agency. Under the terms of this contract, Astrium and KARI will jointly design and manufacture the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager II (GOCI-II) for the future Korean mission GEO-KOMPSAT 2B, scheduled for launch in 2019.

ISS-Reshetnev has completed the first stage of work in the territory of Kazakhstan involving the installation of control hardware and software intended for the KazSat-3 telecommunications satellite.