Satellite News

Yesterday at Baikonur, the State Commission authorised the rollout of the Proton M ILV/Briz M/Loutch SC to the launch pad area. In accordance with the State Commission go-ahead, the transfer of the Proton M to the pad area started at 0030 UTC.

IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle), the European Space Agency’s atmospheric reentry demonstrator, developed and integrated by Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor, arrived today at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, initiating preparations for the launch, scheduled for this coming November.

ISRO successfully placed its low-cost Mars spacecraft in orbit around the red planet in its very first attempt. The orbit insertion progressed satisfactorily and the spacecraft performance was normal. It is is now circling Mars in an orbit whose nearest point to Mars (periapsis) is at 421.7 km and farthest point (apoapsis) at 76,993.6 km.

COM DEV International Ltd. has been awarded an Authorisation to Proceed (ATP) contract to deliver Multiplexer Equipment, Waveguide and Coaxial Switches, and Microwave Components to be used on a high throughput communications satellite designed to provide direct-to-home premium television content to the Middle East and North Africa.

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. has been awarded a contract from DigitalGlobe Inc. to provide a ground station solution to an international customer to receive and process imagery and data directly from DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-1, WorldView-2, and WorldView-3 satellites.

Ikonos, built by Lockheed Martin for DigitalGlobe, Inc., celebrated its 15th birthday on-orbit.

“The day the mission was named MoM, I knew it would succeed because a mother never disappoints.” – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi