Satellite News

It has been officially confirmed that the Proton-M crash on 2 July was caused by incorrectly installed angular velocity sensors. The mistake affected three of six yaw angular velocity sensors on the rocket, said deputy head of Roskosmos, Alexander Lopatin, citing a state commission’s investigation of the crash.

Thales Alenia Space has delivered its second Pressurised Cargo Module (PCM) to Orbital Sciences Corporation for integration in the Cygnus spacecraft that will transport cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).

Orbital Sciences Corporation reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2013.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 2C; Payload: Shijian 11-05 [Shi Jian 11-05, SJ 11-05]; Date: 15 July 2013, 0927 UTC; Launch site: Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. The experimental satellite was successfully placed into its target orbit.

Lockheed Martin has completed and is preparing to install the navigation, communication, and hosted payload antenna assemblies for the first GPS III satellite.

China’s space probe Chang’e-2 has travelled about 50 million km into space from Earth. The probe, which is “in good conditions,” reached the distance on 13 July (UTC), the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence(SASTIND) said in a statement.

SES and MNC Sky Vision, an Indonesian satellite Pay-TV provider (brand name: Indovision), announced an agreement to provide capacity on the SES-7 satellite to support Indovision’s future Chinese-language Direct-to-Home (DTH) package.

Orbital Sciences, one of NASA’s two partners participating in the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme, announced it is now targeting a mid-September launch window for its demonstration flight to the International Space Station.