Satellite News

Rocket: Ariane 5 ECA; Payload: Intelsat 30 (ISDLA-1), ARSAT 1; Date: 16 October 2014, 2143 UTC; Launch site: Kourou, French Guiana. Both spacecraft were successfully deployed into geostationary transfer orbits.

ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C26, successfully launched IRNSS-1C, the third satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. It was the twenty seventh consecutively successful mission of PSLV. The ‘XL’ configuration of PSLV was used for this mission. Previously, the same configuration of the vehicle was successfully used six times.

Due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Gonzalo on the island of Bermuda, where an essential tracking site used to ensure public safety during Antares launches is located, the previously announced “no earlier than” (NET) launch date of 24 October for the Orb-3 CRS mission to the International Space Station for NASA is no longer feasible.

The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) spacecraft arrived Wednesday at its launch site on California’s central coast after travelling from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. The spacecraft will undergo final tests and then be integrated on top of a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket in preparation for a planned launch on 29 January 2015.

Airbus Defence and Space has successfully concluded in-orbit trials with Measat-3b. One month after launch, the satellite is now ready to enter commercial service and has been officially handed over to its operator, Measat.

Airbus Defence and Space has signed the formal contracts with the European Space Agency (ESA) to design and build the second generation of Meteorological Operational (MetOp-SG) satellites. Covering the design and build of six spacecraft, these contracts are worth a total of EUR1.3 billion.

On 27-28 September, the two satellites launched on 22 August were handed over from ESA’s Space Operations Centre, ESOC, in Darmstadt, Germany, to the Galileo Control Centre, Oberpfaffenhofen, which will care for them pending a final decision on their use.

Orbital Sciences Corporation reported its financial results for the third quarter of 2014.