Satellite News

COM DEV International Ltd. announced financial results for the three-month period ending 31 July 2014.

Firefly Space Systems announced that it has joined the Autodesk Cleantech Partner Program, which will allow the company to begin designing and advancing the next-generation of cleaner burning rockets.

Airbus Defence and Space has been selected by EchoStar Satellite Operating Corporation–a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corp.–and SES S.A. to build a satellite called EchoStar 105/SES-11, a Eurostar E3000 satellite operating two payloads in Ku and C bands.

The most accurate and comprehensive collection of rain, snowfall and other types of precipitation data ever assembled now is available to the public. This new resource for climate studies, weather forecasting, and other applications is based on observations by the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, a joint mission of NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), with contributions from a constellation of international partner satellites.

Roskosmos is going to hand over the reins of the construction of the Vostochny cosmodrome to the Russian government, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said. He pointed out that the construction of the cosmodrome is now in its final stage, only about six months are left until the first middle-class rocket is going to be launched from Vostochny.

The first geostationary satellite built in Argentina – ARSAT-1 – has been delivered to French Guiana, where the spacecraft will be readied for Arianespace’s dual-passenger Ariane 5 mission VA220 in mid-October.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) said it is considering a flight demonstration to introduce DARPA-developed space robotics capabilities in GEO within the next five years. Because the majority of satellites in GEO are commercially owned, DARPA is particularly interested in establishing a public-private partnership that would make co-operative robotic servicing available to both military and commercial GEO satellite owners on a fee-for-service basis.

n NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has prompted the rover team to make plans to reformat the rover’s flash memory.