Satellite News

Aerojet Rocketdyne and NASA successfully completed a series of hot-fire tests on a liquid-oxygen/gaseous hydrogen rocket injector assembly built using additive manufacturing technology [a.k.a. “3D printing”].

Northrop Grumman Corporation said its patented hemispherical resonator gyro (HRG) technology, which is used for military and commercial space applications, recently achieved a major milestone of 25 million hours of continuous operation without a single mission failure.

NASA will use the International Space Station to test a new communications technology that could dramatically improve spacecraft communications, enhance commercial missions and strengthen transmission of scientific data.

According to the RussianSpaceWeb site, the root cause for the Proton crash on 2 July has been found. Hardly surprising, it was insufficient quality control – this time, sensors had been installed the wrong way. Rocket manufacturer Khrunichev and International Launch Services so far did not confirm this report.

The space agencies of Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine have confirmed their intention to develop the Baiterek [also: Baitarek] rocket, a modernised Zenit launch vehicle.

The two satellite passengers for Arianespace’s next Ariane 5 mission are being fuelled, preparing them for a 25 July lift-off on the company’s fifth flight in 2013 from French Guiana with its launcher family.

Ball Aerospace and Aerojet Rocketdyne have met the first milestone in demonstrating a more environmentally friendly spacecraft fuel by completing an end-to-end checkout of the 22 Newton thruster required for NASA’s Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM).

The Global Positioning System recently became more accurate and reliable as the fourth Boeing GPS IIF satellite began operating in the U.S. Air Force network, the company said.