Satellite News

The U.S. Air Force has awarded one of its most important space procurements, potentially a multi-billion-dollar contract to operate, maintain, and sustain launch ranges at Florida’s Space Coast and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, to a joint venture of Raytheon and General Dynamics.

Boeing has completed production of ABS-3A and Eutelsat 115 West B, which according to the company are the world’s first all-electric propulsion satellites. The satellites will be launched, as a vertically stacked pair, next month.

NASA’s next mission to study Earth, SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive), is scheduled for launch aboard a Delta II from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 29 January on 1420 UTC. SMAP will operate at an altitude of 685-kilometer in a near-polar orbit that repeats exactly every eight days. The mission is designed to operate at least three years.