Satellite News

International Launch Services (ILS) and JSC Academician M.F. Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems (ISS Reshetnev) signed an agreement to collaborate on opportunities to launch two spacecraft utilising a dedicated ILS Proton launch vehicle.

Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services, Inc. (LMCLS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, introduced the industry’s first – and only – 100% space launch vehicle “refund or reflight” programme, to protect customers in the event of a total launch vehicle malfunction.

DZZ-HR, the Republic of Kazakhstan’s first Earth observation satellite, has left Airbus Defence and Space’s cleanrooms in Toulouse and is now on its way to the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou.

Boeing’s first of four satellites for Inmarsat’s Global Xpress network, has passed all of its on-orbit testing and has now been handed over to Inmarsat.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter put itself into a precautionary safe standby mode on 9 March after an unscheduled swap from one main computer to another. The mission’s ground team has begun restoring the spacecraft to full operations.

ECAPS, an SSC Group company, announced that it has been awarded a contract by Skybox Imaging (Skybox) to supply 12 complete HPGP propulsion system modules for the SkySat constellation of high-resolution imaging and video-capable satellites.

Harris Corporation has received an 18-month follow-on contract from Boeing to provide Ka-band antennas for the fourth Inmarsat Global Xpress satellite.

Two downlink antennas are being integrated into the protected communications payload built by Northrop Grumman Corporation for the fourth Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite.