Satellite News

Shortly before the failure of a Proton-M last week, a sharp pressure drop was recorded in the piping of its third stage control engine, Roskosmos said. In related news, a replacement for the lost Ekspress AM4R satellite is likely to be built by a Russian company.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has completed thermal vacuum environmental tests on critical components for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Membrane Optic Imager Real-Time Exploitation (MOIRE) telescope. Two sections of the primary mirror composite back structure and the structure deployment hinges successfully underwent environmental tests to simulate the temperature range and vacuum of a space environment.

OmniEarth LLC announced a partnership with Harris Corp., Draper Laboratory and Dynetics to create a constellation of satellites to deliver high resolution analytics-grade, multispectral imagery data and products, and hosted payloads to commercial and government customers. Imagery data and products will be for subscribers in the agriculture, energy, natural resources, mobile services and government communities.

ViaSat Inc. announced financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014.

Northrop Grumman Corporation has successfully conducted the critical design review for the Enhanced Polar System (EPS) Control and Planning Segment (CAPS) the week of 28 April and the Military Satellite Communications Systems Directorate (MILSATCOM) exercised the programme’s development option on 30 April.

Eutelsat Americas (formerly Satmex), a subsidiary of Eutelsat Communications, is is aligning the names of current and future satellites to reflect Eutelsat’s strategy of operating under a single brand.

Two scientific spacecraft and a military communications payload produced by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) are observing major on orbit anniversaries this year as they continue to perform for many additional years beyond their design lives.