Satellite News

The Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite-Nadir (OMPS-N) instrument has been successfully integrated with the JPSS-1 spacecraft, NOAA announced. OMPS is the second JPSS-1 instrument to be integrated after the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) was installed last month.

On 24 January 2015, Meteosat-7 becomes the longest-serving operational satellite in EUMETSAT history, clocking up 17 years of monitoring the weather from space.

SES S.A. announced that the company has selected Arianespace to launch the powerful new hybrid communications satellite, SES-12, on board an Ariane 5 booster from the European Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, during Q4 2017. This will be the 40th launch of an SES spacecraft on board an European Ariane launch vehicle.

Russian President Vladimir Putin supported Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s proposal to merge Roskomos and the United Rocket and Space Corporation into a single state-run company. The current Director-General of the United Rocket and Space Corporation, Igor Komarov, will take the position of its chief.

Rocket: Atlas V; Payload: MUOS-3; Date: 21 January 2015, 0104 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The satellite was deployed into geostationary transfer orbit and is responding to commands.

Marotta Controls announced that its patented high performance miniature Multi-Function Valve (MFV) is now available as an ITAR-Free key component for satellite electric propulsion systems.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) said in a brief statement it has raised a billion U.S. dollars in a financing round with two new investors, Google and Fidelity.

Russian rocket manufacturer Energia is currently in talks with United Launch Alliance over a contract to deliver 30 additional RD-180 rocket engines, Energia head Vladimir Solntsev was quoted as saying.