Satellite News

The Lockheed Martin prototype of the next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite, the GPS III, recently proved it was backward-compatible with the existing GPS satellite constellation in orbit.

Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) announced that its space-based S-band radar system, NovaSAR, has won an Innovation award for Navigation and Surveillance Communications from The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Rocket: Minotaur I; Payload: ORS-3 (STPSat-3 plus 28 cubesats); Date: 20 November 2013, 0115 UTC; Launch site: Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, Wallops Island, USA. Approximately 12 minutes after lift-off, the Air Force’s Space Test Program Satellite-3 spacecraft was deployed into its intended orbit at an altitude of approximately 500 km.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 4C; Payload: Yaogan 19 (YG-19); Date: 20 November 2013, 0331 UTC; Launch site: Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China. The launch, which had not been announced in advance, reportedly was successful.

Vega’s top stage has been subjected to the forces of launch on a shaker table at ESA’s main technical centre. This testing is intended to boost the carrying capacity of Europe’s newest launcher for future flights.

State satellite telecommunications company ARSAT and Telespazio, a Finmeccanica (67%) and Thales (33%) joint venture, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on 18 November. The signing took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As part of their long-standing relationship, BlackBridge has provided the European Space Agency (ESA) with a substantial time series of RapidEye imagery to support the Sentinel-2-preparatory project.

XCOR Aerospace and United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced a significant milestone, the first successful hot fire of the subscale 11,1 kN (2,500 lbf) thrust XR-5H25 engine in the XCOR and ULA liquid hydrogen (LH2) engine development programme.