Satellite News

Rocket: Atlas V 401; Payload: CLIO; Date: 17 September 2014, 0010 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. Following separation from the rocket into the target orbit on 0302 UTC, initial contact with the satellite was confirmed at 0308 UTC.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Blue Origin, LLC, a privately-funded aerospace company owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, announced that they have entered into an agreement to jointly fund development of the new BE-4 rocket engine by Blue Origin.

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft is nearing its scheduled 22 September (UTC) insertion into Martian orbit after completing a 10-month interplanetary journey of 707 million km.

The Dawn spacecraft has resumed normal ion thrusting after the thrusting unexpectedly stopped and the spacecraft entered safe mode on 11 September. That anomaly occurred shortly before a planned communication with NASA’s Deep Space Network that morning. The spacecraft was not performing any special activities at the time.

CMMB Vision Holdings Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, announced that the company has partnered with an affiliated U.S.-based company and entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to acquire capacity on two new satellites that will provide mobile multimedia services to China and other Asian markets.