Satellite News

Two former senior Korea Telecom executives were indicted for selling the Koreasat 3 satellite to ABS of Hong Kong without government authorisation, a spokesman for the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office was quoted as saying.

NASA is considering issuing a challenge for developing stratospheric airships that can break records in terms of duration of flight at high altitudes. The agency has issued a request for information for this contemplated “20-20-20 Airship Challenge.” Submissions will be accepted until 1 December.

Orbital Sciences Corporation congratulated NASA and the Swift satellite team on the recent 10th anniversary of the astrophysics spacecraft’s launch and successful operation.

Rocket: Soyuz-FG; Payload: Soyuz TMA-15M; Date: 23 November 2014, 2101 UTC; Launch site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The Soyuz TMA-15M manned transport spacecraft was accurately placed on the target orbit and has meanwhile docked with the ISS.

Following the State Review Board’s decision, the Proton M/Astra 2G integrated launch vehicle (ILV) was rolled out to Launch Complex. The ILV is now installed on its launch pad.

As Arianespace prepares to close out a busy year of mission activity, the initial Ariane 5 for launch in 2015 already is beginning to take shape at the Spaceport in Kourou.

After ground testing and careful review over two days, MAVEN was successfully brought out of Safehold Mode the afternoon of Friday, 21 November. The spacecraft is operating nominally in Earth-Point Mode with high-rate communications.

Northrop Grumman Corporation has successfully conducted the integrated baseline review (IBR) of the production, deployment and initial sustainment phase for the Enhanced Polar System (EPS) Control and Planning Segment (CAPS).