Satellite News

Telespazio, a Finmeccanica/Thales company, has won a contract worth EUR216 million with the European Satellite Service Provider (ESSP) as part of the EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) satellite navigation programme.

The Proton-M failure review oversight commission is considering malfunctions of the launch pad, the rocket control system and the first stage engine as possible causes of the rocket’s crash. The leading theory is an “early lift-off,” but details remain sketchy.

Telespazio VEGA Deutschland, a subsidiary of Telespazio (Finmeccanica/Thales), has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to carry out the Phase-B project for the European Ground Systems – Common Core (EGS-CC Phase B).

Operations in Point Rest State (PRS) have continued for NASA’s Kepler spacecraft. The spacecraft was placed in PRS on 15 May 2013, after the failure of reaction wheel 4. It has been 53 days since the spacecraft collected new science data.

The European Parliament has approved the multiannual financial framework budget for the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security programme, currently being renamed Copernicus, for 2014-20.

SES announced that it has signed an agreement with EuropaSat for the distribution of SES Broadband, its satellite broadband service with download speeds of up to 20 Mbit/s, in the UK and other countries across Europe.

It looks increasingly likely that the crash of a Proton-M carrying three GLONASS satellites on 2 June was caused by a lack of thrust, although different reports emphasise different aspects. Meanwhile, the Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case over the incident.

India’s INSAT-3D weather satellite for Arianespace’s next Ariane 5 mission has completed its initial pre-launch checkout at the Spaceport in French Guiana, and is now being readied for fuelling.