Satellite News

The LADEE Observatory has completed the checkout phase of the mission, and is now in the cruise phase on the way to the moon. It is currently in elliptic orbits around Earth, called phasing loops, and will continue with two more of these elliptical orbits until LADEE is captured around the moon using an initial Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI-1) burn on 6 October.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) of Paris has drawn its conclusions on the first phase of the arbitration initiated by Eutelsat Communications against SES in October 2012.

At its meeting of 16 September, the Board of Eutelsat Communications was informed by its Chairman, Jean-Martin Folz, that he would not seek to renew his mandate, which expires at the General Assembly of Shareholders of 7 November 2013, in order to respect corporate governance recommendations on multiple directorships by the Afep-Medef. To enable the Board to immediately appoint a successor and to avoid uncertainty during a period of transition, Jean-Martin Folz has resigned as Chairman. He will remain a Board member until the General Assembly.

Rocket: Epsilon-1; Payload: SPRINT-A ‘Hisaki’; Date: 14 September 2013, 0500 UTC; Launch site: Uchinouora Space Center, Japan. The new launch vehicle flew smoothly, and, at about 61 minutes and 39 seconds after lift-off, the separation of SPRINT-A was confirmed.

Orbital Sciences Corp. will postpone by at least 24 hours the launch of its Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft on a demonstration mission to the International Space Station.

The third Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite built by Lockheed Martin has been encapsulated into its payload fairing in preparation for a lift-off aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 18 September.

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has been selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the competitive design phase of CHEOPS science satellite, which will improve mankind’s understanding of exoplanets – planets orbiting distant stars outside our solar system. The contractor selection for the implementation phase is planned by mid-2014 and the launch is scheduled late 2017.

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. said that it has started work under three Authorisations to Proceed (ATP), totalling approximately C$5 million to provide multiple communications satellite subsystems.