Satellite News

The first two Galileo Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites are a confirmed “fit” for their Arianespace Soyuz launch later in 2014 after making initial contact with the medium-lift mission’s dual-payload dispenser in French Guiana.

Aerojet Rocketdyne has received a contract from Stratolaunch Systems Corporation (SSC) to provide six RL10C-1 production engines, with an option to provide an additional six RL10C-1 production engines at a later date, for the third stage of a commercial air-launch system. The inaugural launch of Thunderbolt, the air-launch vehicle designed and developed for SSC, is scheduled for 2018.

Orbital Sciences Corporation announced that Thaicom PCL has authorised the company to begin the development, manufacturing, integration and testing process for the Thaicom 8 commercial communications satellite.

NASA has awarded ITT Space Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Exelis, Inc. a contract to provide the Radiation Budget Instrument (RBI), a scanning radiometer capable of measuring Earth’s reflected sunlight and emitted thermal radiation.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has approved Airbus Defence and Space’s system design of the European Service Module (ESM) for the American human Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) Orion, containing the critical propulsion, power supply and components of the life-support systems of the spacecraft.

The flash memory Solid-State Recorder (SSR) products of Airbus Defense and Space have passed all NASA space qualification test requirements successfully. In addition, the company’s flash-based SSR has exceeded 20 months of operation in orbit onboard SPOT 6, the first commercial satellite to deploy this technology.

OHB AG said it will be pooling the skills and capacities of its subsidiaries OHB System AG and Erwin Kayser-Threde GmbH with the aim of additionally strengthening OHB as a leading German space technology group in the European market.

NSR’s newly released Satellite Manufacturing and Launch Services (SMLS), 4th Edition report finds the satellite industry fared well in the past 12 months, with more than 100 satellites ordered and more than 100 satellites launched. In total, the combined satellite manufacturing & launch industry generated almost US$35 billion globally in 2013.